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Jul 11, 2016 PAWS By Marty Hill

Sometimes, authenticity can trump innovation—and for Glasgow, Scotland trio PAWS—that’s exactly the case. The band’s first two records, Cokefloat! and Youth Culture Forever, were bulging with scrappy, heartfelt, and totally impassioned pop punk dynamics. If you’re north of 12 years of age, the foundations of PAWS’ sound, which are set in stone at this point, won’t be anything new. On career-highpoint No Grace, PAWS prepare for total world domination, with a certain Mark Hoppus enlisted to tease out the finer details in the band’s densest collection of tracks yet. No Grace is the sound of a band surpassing the bands on their T-shirts in terms of cultural relevance and effortlessness.

On standout “Gild the Lily” frontman Philip Taylor widens his songwriting approach, momentarily letting loose of the interpersonal bias previously rooted in his words: “All the good teachers are leaving” he mourns, the acquisition of a political voice is a promising direction for the band. For now though, PAWS are still a band to fall in and out of love at breakneck speed to, but they’re no longer a band you can fall out of love with until they tour again. (www.wehavepaws.com)

Author rating: 8/10