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I recently purchased the latest Get Up Kids album out of respect for their previous records. This is a band that I felt I grew up with each album  release. Each album, itself, showing a distinct sense of maturity. It all ended quite nicely with Guilt Show.

When I picked my first Get Up Kids album I was a little too old to be inspired by the band’s misconstrued emo tag, as I came to it from being a fan of undiluted punk rock. The band’s pop-punk style contained more melody and was a nice change from the other stuff I listen too. However, it still maintained an under-produced, live sound that I think is integral to good music. In fact, by the time I saw the band live – it was their final show and it was a fantastic show.

After 7 years since Guilt Show the band has released an album that takes a new and occasionally misguided direction…the band decided to layer sounds and noises in novel ways throughout each of the album tracks. It is messy particularly through headphones – I had trouble finding a good anchor song on my first playthrough of an album. Often introduction to songs drag out in an unnatural way causing the album to lack a sense of flow.

The simple hooks and melody of the past are there, they are just buried beneath artistic nuances. There are some strong tracks – Regent’s Court is pure vintage Get Up Kids and Tithe is old school goodness once you subtract the intro. The first single in Automatic is bit repetitive but stands as solid track. Pararelevant stands toe-to-toe with any of the songs on Guilt Show. Birmingham while good, sounds surprisingly like their Dog House days but in the best way.

On my first listen through I was disappointed but I still moved the disc to the car…after all, I wholeheartedly believe most people  experience the music the best in the car and not on iDevices. The album snuck its way back into the CD player and suddenly the album started to make more sense and became more enjoyable spread across my car’s speakers.

The album has an ethereal layer and the upbeat tempo and crunchy guitar that typically is contained within a Get Up Kids album is sometimes lost as many songs seem to plod along at their own pace. However, sometimes it works well as “Shatter Your Lungs” has become that anchor song I was searching for on my first play through – it is the type of song that will stay stuck in your head and offers the best mix of their new and old sound.

It is still far from their best effort but after 7 years, I guess they needed to let loose some those  ”novel artistic ideas” that hang around like bats in all creators head.  That said, it is entirely better than the reviews give it credit for…it just takes more than one listen through.

Ultimately, 50% of the songs on the album  have cemented their status as solid tracks – which by ratio, is far better than most albums on the Top 40. It just so happens the best tracks mostly fall at the beginning of record which causes the album to slow down towards the end. However, that said, in terms the characteristic vocals that helped to shape the Get Up Kids sound is a present as ever.

Check out: Automatic, Regent’s Court, Shatter Your Lungs, Tithe, Pararelevant, and Birmingham.