In an age where relevance is everything, gone from screens with a simple swipe and social media has been a constant for the youth of today rather than something new and cool, growing up is just as difficult as it’s ever been, just a with a new set of pitfalls. As such, Press Club are here with one of the most apt album titles for their music: Late Teens.
Essentially, that’s the theme Press Club are exploring on their debut album. It’s not particularly an original theme but they’re giving us their own take on it. Full of rage and angst, it’s typically punk in that sense. But instead of taking aim at the disenfranchised on a national or global scale, they’ve looked at their own community, their own generation to show where this is leading. It’s the type of punk music that gives the misfits a voice and looks at the common themes every young person has faced.
There’s a lot of melody and pop tones to the music but the quartet know how to bring the rage in their jagged and crunching chords. Back that with frenetic drums and Natalie Foster’s screaming vocals and Late Teens is still, at heart, a punk album. It may be more accessible than say, Idles or Frank Carter’s early Rattlesnakes work but this is still music to ensure the mosh pit is in full force.
Most of the songs are short, snappy affairs barely clocking in at the three-minute mark but with songs like “Let it Fall” and “Trading Punches”, you’re going to be asking for a breather when their respective ends come. Meanwhile, the tamer, melodic moments like “Stay Low” and “Headwreck” are perfect for radio play but still pack a punch and both take a look at the concept of one-sided relationships and one party needs to escape.
Musically, it’s a fairly upbeat album. “Golden State” takes a darker, grungier tone and “Suburbia” is perfectly vanilla to reflect the stereotypical lifestyle. Nothing feels too out of place, other than perhaps the instrumental, “Side B”. Perfectly nestled in the halfway point, it’s a trippy, atmospheric soundscape to introduce the second half but it adds nothing to the album overall and slows the momentum of the rest of the album.
Late Teens is an album which could fool you into thinking this is a pop album. But make no mistake, it’s far more sophisticated than that. Adding themselves to the pile of giving the silent a voice, Press Club have tapped into a saturated market but with their lyrics and aggression, they’ll find their own audience and there will be people out there who relate to these exact moments.
Late Teens is out now
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