May 23, 2021 | Writer: Eric Reyes
This takes me back. I’m getting a mix of Boys Like Girls, Alkaline Trio, Pop Punk that I haven’t heard in a long time. With A Fox charms with their latest release ‘In The Fall.’
It has all the energy of getting out of class and immediately heading to your friend’s house to listen to the latest releases from the innumerable indie/pop punk labels that were born in the early 00’s. The lyrics have this sense of urgency, of being chased, of always trying to outrun something, the past maybe, or people, other people, people other than that special someone worth running out on everything with. There is a dramatic flair to it that definitely smacks of the 00’s era of the genre, in all the right ways. Taking full advantage of language and providing an engaging lyrical composition is a lost art in the age of algorithm-designed hooks.
The vocals work for me, smooth where it needs to be and rough, about to break, elsewhere, to emphasize the emotional point of the given lyric being sung. I can imagine the singer up on the mic like Dave Grohl, bending at the knees to dig deep to really belt out a growly, stressed shout that races alongside the driving drums and racing guitars.
God, I haven’t been to a show in years. This song made me feel both old and young again. It felt like I was both at the front of the crowd, singing along at the top of my lungs, and in the back enjoying the breathing room, smiling and listening in on a new wave of my beloved genre enthrall a whole new generation.