I Hate Myself is an emo band from Gainesville Florida, in January 1997 they released their EP
four songs through No Idea Records. Believe it or not, there are only four songs on this release.
The EP runs around 15 minutes.
I Hate Myself is a cult favorite in the emo community, their distorted post-hardcore inspired riffs
mixed with their killer vocals are what makes them so appealing.
Let’s look at the first song on this EP, Song One. This song is super depressing, right off the bat
you are hit with a distinct wave of self-hatred and raw anxious longing. The guitar riff hits my ear
just in the right spot, you are put between the passionate almost violent screams of Jim
Marburger. Definitely not a song to show your grandma.
Song two is a change from the first song, it takes this whiney pop-punk esque style. Its good
don’t get me wrong but it takes a different approach than the first song which helps prevent the
screaming from sounding repetitive. This song’s melody is seriously strong. This self-loathing is
a common element of most I Hate Myself songs. Not too over analyze the narrative the
vocalist’s crafts, but this song is spectacular in the way it captures agony.
Song Three starts off slow, again a fan of the way it helps the EP flow. It’s very apathetic and dry
with twinkly guitars. Then we get hit with the distortion hit, we move away from the standard
screams and into a powerful belt.
Lastly, we have Song Four, now the EP has established the direction and tonality that they are
going for. This song is pretty lo-fi and amateurish, the riffs are what I would expect from an emo
song. They aren’t bad, definitely reminding me of Strictly Ballroom with the clean guitar. The
distortion doesn’t feel as powerful in this song. The apathetic lyrics don’t draw me too much
emotion for the most part of the song. I liked what they did in song three with the vocal stylings
but this build-up wasn’t it for me.
All in All, Four Songs isn’t a bad listen. I can see why people really enjoy the stylings of I Hate
Myself. My Favorite songs off this would be Song Two, and Song Three. Overall this EP gets a
7/10
