Old punk rock fans are fickle. As more and more young bands come up, it gets harder and harder to get stoked on on them. You start off getting stoked on the energetic “three chords and the truth” type bands. As you get older, maybe the days of getting in the pit are over. I guess for every kid just finding Jawbreaker, there are a bunch of older dudes who would swear by Jets To Brazil.
This is not to say that this record is only for old, kind of jaded, punk rockers. This record will appeal to the sensibilities of anyone who is stoked on punk and indie music. Basically, Restorations is ostensibly a punk band. Their self titled record is ostensibly a punk rock record. But, there seems to be a lot more going on here though. No, you are not going to get sloppy, minute and a half songs. These are 3+ minute songs with involved instrumentation. Possibly an influence of roots Americana music. Yeah yeah, whenever someone drops the “Americana” bomb everyone automatically thinks of Gaslight Anthem or similar bands. No, this does not sound like that.
What it is is a grab bag of various things falling under the umbrella of punk mixed with 70’s rock n roll (rootsy, not arena-y). You got gruff vocals that would sound great on any post-hardcore record (Jon Loudon being ex-Jena Berlin. So, yeah, that makes sense). Extended instrumentation that would be right on with indie rock stuff.
This is a tough record to review because it does not sound like it is aping anything else. Think maybe if Jets To Brazil, Hot Water Music, and maybe Wilco (or Lucero) decided to have a bar fight (maybe with “Born To Run” on the jukebox). Yeah, sounds good.
One of the best records I have heard this year. Musically strong, lyrically strong. Fucking fantastic rhythm section. Be a bro, go get this shit. Tiny Engines has a winner here.
Team Reasonable 