The Tired and True

Haunts [7-inch] (2012)

Rich Cocksedge

The Tired and True is a four-piece dealing in poppy punk, albeit with a bit of an edge to the sound, and this four-track single, originally released in 2011 but just now receiving the vinyl treatment, is a follow up to the bands' debut 2010 album Scenarios. In addition you do get a download of a fifth track which is an acoustic version of the title song.

The opening track is short and displays that edgy pop punk sound which the band builds all four songs around--at times the guitar work is reminiscent of Strike Anywhere but this is only fleeting. On the first two listens all sounded okay, nothing special or likely to bother the more established bands around these days but once I started really listening to the music and the lyrics, the release seemed to fall apart quite quickly and consequently struggled to retain my interest. The problems here I felt were twofold:

1. The music is far too "clean." It sounds as if all the life has been sucked out of it via the production, lacking any real vibrancy.

2. Lyrically, this is the domain of a generation much younger than mine and didn't interest me one bit. There are only so many songs I can listen to about broken relationships, especially when they are written in such a clumsy and ham-fisted way (I found myself cringing at some of the lyrics and how much they lacked sense). Also, such songs are better with an element of compassion and/or empathy for the singer but here it appears all the failed relationships were the fault of that actual person, hence me not connecting.

To add a positive, albeit with a negative tagged on the end, I have found myself with the chorus of "Haunts" running through my head (there's the positive: it's got a catchy refrain) like an unwanted visitor, much like a recent Coldplay single that I had the misfortune to hear, making me want to extract it from my consciousness in any way possible to free myself from the lyrical mess it contains.

Rather than go on about how poor I find this release I will direct you to seek out this band if you like a fairly straightforward pop-punk sound with a youthful take on the lyrical content.

To end on a positive note: despite only getting a download copy of this to review, I have seen the actual cover art and quite like it.