Self-released, June 12, 2020
Abandon The Midwest does some pretty standard pop punk on Straight To VHS.
Orlando’s Abandon The Midwest are new to me, even with releases stretching to 2014. They do the pretty standard pop punk thing with hooky guitars, bouncy drums, and some melodic vocals, both clean and gruff. And for what it is, they do it pretty decently.
Straight To VHS is the newest EP from Abandon The Midwest, offering four songs and some catchiness. My favorite song on the record is “Bright Lights” It’s a pretty basic pop punk song with some really good guitar hooks and some alternating vocals that shift back and forth between clean melodic lines and ragged and gruff lines. Honestly, at first listen I was thrown off by these alternating vocals and didn’t like it very much. But it grew on me with repeated listens and I’ve come around on it now. Oh, and special mention needs to be made of the backing vocals that are all reverbed; they sound great floating through the background. “You Don’t Want Me Around” is also pretty good, hanging onto a faster pace and some catchy vocal hooks on the chorus. This one is my favorite of the gruff vocals on VHS.
The other couple of Straight To VHS songs register as just okay. “Mistreat Yourself” plays at a bouncy mid-tempo pace, but the song never really sinks in. Same goes for closer “Skyline”, which has some good lead guitar, but again fails to leave a lasting impression. Neither are objectionable, but they just don’t land for me.
Straight To VHS isn’t going to blow up anyone’s brains. But Abandon The Midwest are pretty okay at the stuff they do. Some of this is an acquired taste for someone like me, but if this is your wheelhouse, it hits decently.
You might like this if:
- You like the gruffer side of the pop punk spectrum
You might not if:
- You’re bored with the ridiculously named “beard punk” thing
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
