Now, after September 11th, this may (or may not) have been retitled to “Salt Sweat Sugar”. Which is a shame, and a futile move, Because this (whatever it is titled eventually), is as fine a piece of pop-punk you will hear all year. Melodic, yes, but punky. Catchy, in a good way…
Its everything that so many other ‘new hopes’, (the turgid, retrograde Strokes, the White Stripes) aren’t. Vibrant, enthused with energy and melody, yet not calculatedly commerical or deliberately designed for a target market, but pure emo-core, with all the best bits put in and nowt good taken out. Lyrically insightful, this is,quite simply, one of the brightest hopes in a long time.
Whilst not on a par with At The Drive In or Earthtone 9, its far far better than Limp Bizkit… Quite deservedly, it's been glued to my stereo for weeks now. Why oh why does the press rave about the cartoonish ravings of Andrew W(an)K yet ignore gems like this? With any justice they'll be bloody huge within 3 months. Mark those words....
-
9Graham Reed's Score