General opinions would call this band “pop punk” or “indie.” I lean a little more towards the latter than the former. It is pop punk-ish, but it does not follow the rigid constraints of that genre. It has punk edge, but is not afraid to let the songs draw out, or throw in some actual musicianship. They steer clear of the whole “punk riffing” thing. It has a certain level of lo-fi production, which keeps the punk (and possibly even garage) influence. Generally, it stays pretty midtempo, there is some good fuzzy guitar noise. But, it takes the influences and makes it something else.
The vocals are what makes this record stand out. There are some verses where the lyrics do not fit the rhythm of the music (re: Hail Mary and Incoherent Love Songs). This does not make it sound bad, it almost has kind of a Willie Nelson thing. Yeah, there might be a few awkward syllables, but that is how it is supposed to sound. If you know what you want to say, sometimes you have to get a little off rhythm. Also, for the vocals, there are some great harmonies on this thing. There are some choruses that sound like they have old 1960s girls group influence. Even the first song in, you know these vocals were not going to fuck around.
That is not to say it is a perfect record. I think there were a few sequencing things. The song Tennessee is great, but it is kind of a slow song. It seems like there were better “side one, track one” songs. But, that is a minor flaw (I would have put Hail Mary as the first song [for anyone who gives a fuck about my dumb opinion]). Another flaw is something that tends to happen with these more indie/punk hybrid bands. The songs kind of fade together. While each song is enjoyable, a record with mostly midtempo songs and fuzzy guitar sounds eventually runs together. The last little issue I have is also a point I said I enjoyed earlier. Which is how sometimes the vocals get offtime. I count that as good and bad. It is good because it sounds interesting, but it is bad because there are sometimes the vocals are slurred and unclear at times. And that sounds, well, not good. It is a double edged sword. It sounds great most of the time, but sometimes bad. I had to read along with the lyrics, but even then, some stuff was hard to understand.
All in all, I will give this a 4.5 out of 5. Not perfect, but pretty fucking great.
Team Reasonable 