Pure Noise Records – 24 Mar 2023
A grower, not a shower (FFO: the Bruce Springsteens of punk)
Those Jersey mooches, The Bouncing Souls, have been a punk rock institution since 1989. They have released 11 full lengths, numerous EPs, splits with bands like Anti-Flag, Hot Water Music and The Menzingers, and have legions of fans across the world—your reviewer included. (Full disclosure: if I had gotten my second tattoo back in 2003, it probably would be the cover to the Green Ball Crew EP. Also, the Souls’ 30th Anniversary Tour was my penultimate concert before the start of the pandemic—the honor of the last show going to Electric Wizard.)
However, there’s no denying that the band’s songwriting prowess seems to have fallen off since moving to Rise and now Pure Noise. While Comet, Simplicity, and the Crucial Moments EP all have their stellar songs, they lack the front to back quality of Maniacal Laughter, How I Spent My Summer Vacation or even Hopeless Romantic. In some ways, it feels like the Souls are less Bruce Springsteen and more Weezer—a band coasting on great early releases with increasingly mediocre material.
During the pandemic, the Souls were forced to transition from touring to Patreon as the way to interact with their fans. At certain levels of support, the band would talk with their patrons about their fandom, and ultimately the band would write a song. These form the basis of this 10 song effort released earlier this year.
Frankly, I had intended to review this album when it came out, but a confluence of real life events impeded any reviews. Perhaps for the better, this afforded some additional time with the album, which hopefully provides some more nuanced insight into the effort.
Lyrically, the album is geographically more diverse than most previous efforts. The band that wrote “Ghosts on the Boardwalk” has rarely traveled further afield from the swamps of Jersey aside from “East Side Mags”, “Night Train” or “Letters from Iraq”. This provides some additional layers to their songs. Sometimes it seems a little superficial (like “Kenver”). It might be personal to this DC-ish kid, but I think “Vin and Casey” is the album standout due to its reference to the 9:30 Club and Northern Virginia, even if Kevin Seconds‘ vocals seem muddled in the mix.
Songs like “Back to Better” and “To Be Human” have the same grit and energy as early Souls’ records. Speedy drums and high gain distortion prop up catchy melodies
The title track, album opener and lead single “Ten Stories High”, exemplifies what’s right and wrong about the album. The verses have a bit of pace to drive a monotone vocal line, while the chorus soars with backing whoahs. Lyrics are fairly catchy and are intensely hummable.
On its own, this song is great—but it’s a formula that keeps repeating itself on the album. Sometimes, the song takes off, while it crashes at the end of the runway.
Will Yip is behind the soundboard, providing glossy production for the album. I believe that this is more a disservice, as the Souls aren’t a glossy pop act that benefits from his techniques. Pete, Brian and Greg honed their craft in squats, punk houses and the beer soaked floors of dive bars, and they could stand a little grime in their sound.
Ultimately, I think this album is a grower, not a shower. Perhaps this would have been better as an EP, but It’s certainly an improvement over the last few LPs. Kind of like Weezer, I’ll always listen to a new Bouncing Souls record, but I hope that these Jersey mooches return to their roots for their next release.
YO VINYL NERDS: The PureNoise MerchNow page has some exclusive variants that haven’t sold out at the time I’m writing this. I’m particularly enamored with the black/white/blue variant with the yellow splatter.
Once hailing from the salty tundra of Syracuse, NY, Ben now calls the DC suburbs his home. He fell in love with punk after listening to Punk-O-Rama 3, Less Than Jake and MXPX in middle school. He loves to slam dance but is too large to stage dive.
When he’s not pretending to have exquisite musical taste, he’s raising two children, designing RPG products and practicing law. (Who knows if he’ll ever get the hang of it.)
