This band is pretty great. It’s catchy, emotional, full band folk-punk that avoids the pitfall a lot of other folksy bands fall into of just being annoying. In fact, they remind me of another favorite folk punk band of mine, Rosa, but with access to better recording equipment. It wouldn’t be quite right to say the record was unabashedly optimistic (there is a song called “The Saddest Thing I Ever Saw” after all), but it contains a definite innate joyousness that reflects in the music. For instance, “Dear Noah” has a driving soul element to it due to the organ that supplements the banjo and acoustic guitar, and “Breathe City Lights”‘ train-like rhythm would befit a ‘60s country song about riding the rails. An interesting sidenote is that the album was recorded and produced by Joe Queer and Jeff Rosenstock of Bomb the Music Industry! I never would of thought of either of those two as candidates to produce a largely bluegrass and Americana-informed punk band, but the results are pretty good. I highly recommend this.
–Adrian (Asian Man and Quote Unquote)