It’s going to take this band a few releases before every other review isn’t obligated to mention drummer Warren Oakes’ history in Against Me!, so let’s just get it out there. And Pour should be received warmly by Against Me! diehards who haven’t minded the band’s metamorphosis from ear-shredding folk punk toward mid-tempo Replacements-style rock, because there’s plenty of that on this debut. But the seasoned punks of SunshineState have plenty of other influences they don’t mind showing. Some familiarity with the DIY behemoth that is the Gainesville punk scene is a decent jumping-off point, but frontman Troy Perlman’s style is less marble-mouthed and gruff-beardy-guy-oriented than the classic orgcore stereotype. This has more in common with the thoughtful, songwriter-centric pop punk of Jawbreaker and J Church. It seems like this list of ingredients adds up to a whole lot of nostalgia, which isn’t totally inaccurate, but this is a band that does manage to put its own spin on it for something pretty new and interesting.
–Indiana Laub (No Idea, noidearecords.com)