West Ferry – Watching the World Run By
West Ferry have been not-so-quietly building an oeuvre of passionate, emo-tinged indie punk for 15 years. They’re back with another three-song EP, Watching the World Run By, which finds the band pushing their sound even further, playing around with Midwest emo riffing, folk-tinged punk, and raw emotive passion.
Opening track “Ralph” is as Midwest as it comes – a twinkling guitar riff is the star of the show here, setting the scene for hard-hitting lyrics. Lines like “I’m gonna break every rule so you react / gonna count down every minute till you get back / gonna act like I don’t hear you call my name / gonna clean your plate, gonna keep you SAFE!” are spit out with defiance and a voice-breaking intensity – reminiscent of Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes, but a bit more aligned with the high-intensity punk of Desaparecidos. Keep your ears peeled around the 2:10 mark for a tasty bass lick, too. Follow up song “Real Bright” keeps up the spitfire energy, with more guitar theatrics, including some tasty tremolo.
EP closer “Learn To Love” is the album outlier (if you could call it that), finding West Ferry deep-diving into that lightly-heartbroken Bright Eyes territory with cosmic guitar hits and a plodding tempo. The first third of this song could fit comfortably on I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning, or better yet, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn – but the band opts for a hard tempo change to bring it back to their bread-and-butter high energy indie punk. The band returns here to close things out on a perfect, staccato note. And while I referenced Bright Eyes a lot throughout this review, it’s important to note that West Ferry’s emotion and songwriting stands on its own. Fifteen years of songwriting experience will do that for you.
Watching the World Run By is available now (November 25, 2025). Check it out via bandcamp below, or, on Spotify/Apple Music.
Categorised in: Buffalo, New Music
This post was written by Nick Sessanna