Beach Slang: A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings (Polyvinyl) Review

	Saturday, April 20th, 2024
      
	Subscribe
	Advertise

Issue #58 - The Protest Issue

A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings

Polyvinyl

Sep 21, 2016 Beach Slang By Matthew Berlyant

Following quickly on the heels of several EPs and last year’s excellent debut LP, The Things We Do to Find People Who Think Like Us, Beach Slang has quickly released the follow-up less than a year later. Thankfully, very little has changed. The songs are still smart, fun, heartfelt, melodic punk shout-a-longs about, well, teenage feelings of loneliness, alienation, and rebellion sung by former Weston guitarist James Alex (who is in his 40s). While the primary influence on the debut was that of The Replacements, on this one James is sounding more like Blake Schwarzenbach circa Jawbreaker’s swan song Dear You. This is evident on the first song, “Future Mixtape for the Art Kids” and continues throughout the course of the album’s 10 songs. The only time there is any kind of let up at all is on the penultimate track “The Perfect High,” but by then its longing beauty is a much welcome relief from the non-stop intensity. So while from a distance it might be odd for someone of his age to sing about teenage outcasts, upon closer inspection these songs can also be viewed as love songs to the subculture that James has grown up in and are sung from the perspective of one who has lived these experiences and now sees his young fans picking up his inspiration. May the circle be unbroken. (www.beachslang.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10

Rate this album
Average reader rating: 7/10