Knuckle Puck – Losing What We Love

0

There’s nothing quite like the sound of a pop-punk band in full flight; that fast paced, energetic sound coupled with catchy choruses is totally addictive. It’s a sound that Knuckle Puck have honed over the past 13 years and it has all come to fruition on their latest album, Losing What We Love. Featuring 11 choice cuts, this is a long player full of boisterous beats and bittersweet lyrics, and is the perfect album to ease us into the long winter months.

As you’d expect from a band of Knuckle Puck’s vintage, they waste little time on fancy introductions and preambles, there’s just a guitar riff shaking us awake like a 6am alarm, and then the band arrive in full flight with opening track, the aptly-titled ‘A New Beginning’. Part of the band’s appeal is to pull the listener in two directions; there’s a strong emo streak present (primarily found in Joe Taylor’s vocals and the words he sings) and that’s tempered by a buoyant beat which sweeps us up in pure effervescence. It is kinda like leaving for university; it is undoubtedly exciting, but it is also tinged with sadness, and that’s precisely the middle ground which Knuckle Puck inhabit.

Losing What We Love is an album that tries on many different clothes; Knuckle Punk have always been a band straddle different genres and that ethos is still very much in evidence here, and no more so than on the majestic title-track. Taking in elements of Midwest emo, alternative rock and punk, and wrapping them up in an almost pop sensibility makes for an irresistible combination, and one which attacks your heart and head simultaneously.

There are no signs of flagging as the band power through these 11 tracks, sugar-coating tales of loss and longing with their trademark bounce. However, it is their expansive sound and a “no frontiers” ethos that holds the listener’s attention throughout. The neat, fleet-of-foot dance of ‘Worlds Apart’ nestles next to cavernous ‘Better Late’, whilst closer ‘Fool’ tugs hard on the heartstrings and ensures the album ends in a grandiose fashion with confetti fluttering and the song’s sudden stop making for the ultimate conclusion, meaning that the silence which follows positively deafening.

Still managing to move their sound forwards, Losing What We Love is an era defining album, not only for the band, but for us too.

Track List:

  1. A New Beginning
  2. The Tower
  3. October
  4. You & I
  5. Losing What We Love
  6. Groundhog’s Day
  7. Act Accordingly
  8. Out Of Touch
  9. Worlds Apart
  10. Better Late
  11. Fool