Mom’s Cellar Dwellers/Waterslide Records, June 26, 2020
On My Arms are into writing simple catchy pop songs.
The guys of On My Arms have been knocking out Ramonescore songs for a bunch of years now, dating back to 2011. They’ve had three previous pop punk releases (an EP and a couple full-lengths) and have now dropped a fourth, this EP called More Than Drugs. Like the others, More Than Drugs shows a band comfortable reveling in fairly classic songcraft.
On My Arms does work from a Ramones playbook, but they aren’t straight copycats. The guitars buzz a little less and lead a little more than most Ramones songs, the bass is a little more prominent and melodic, and they throw in synths a time or two. But more than anything else, the lead voice, Ganz, is different. He’s singing a bunch of boy-girl stuff and sounding like some sort of Andrea Manges-meets-Elvis Costello hybrid. And that, I really dig.
The songs on More Than Drugs are pretty likable. All five songs move along at a pretty similar pace: fast, but not Boogada-fast. And they all mess with familiar chord progressions and sounds. “Going Home” and “More Than Drugs” are both upbeat relationship songs, each using some so-simple-it’s-cool guitar leads to compliment the melody. “Going Home” has a nice rhythm guitar hook and “More Than Drugs” does its damage with an intriguing and imperfect vocal melody that seems slightly askew, but plays just right. There’s also a bit of a gated guitar loop on “Drugs” that adds some dimensions to the end of the song and it ends up a contender for my favorite on here.
The other likely contender is the opener, “Make It Up With You”. It’s got a simple melodic charm and hooks that are endearing, avoiding all mess and awkwardness. It just lands right. And while guitars and vocals mostly take the lead, there are also a couple of songs where On My Arms makes some room for other elements to elbow their way in. Both “Never Alone” and “Up & Down” have some really cool bass lines that take the lead on melody for fleeting moments, but moments that leave a mark. And “Up & Down” also throws on some synths that add some melody and texture without losing me. It’s all a pretty decent affair.
More Than Drugs is nothing that hasn’t been done before. But as I seem to note time and again, records like this aren’t about doing something new. Instead, records like this are about the songs. And on More Than Drugs, On My Arms’ songs sound pretty good to me.
You might like this if:
- You like simple and straightforward pop punk and don’t mind little pop nuggets (guitar leads, synths) added in
You might not if:
- You want your Ramonescore to be a more exact replication: no leads, no synths, just three chords and some dumb truth
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
