Pool Party

Number One (2015)

Ricky Frankel

For those of you who don’t know them, Pool Party is no stranger to the pop punk scene. Number One is their follow up to 2013’s Pool Party Party and really not a lot has changed in those few years when it comes to this new full-length.

Right off the bat the lead singer sounds like a raspier version of KJ Jansen from Chixdiggit or Intruder Blue from Masked Intruder. It is also very clear that this band is still embracing their shtick of writing songs about partying, women, apathy, and drinking, which is something not exactly new from what we hear coming from the pop punk scene. Lyrics such as, “I don’t give a fuck/ Cause I don’t feel like it!” from the track “I Don’t Feel Like It” certainly portrays that. The band seems like they could easily be rivals with The Fuck Off And Dies! (i.e. Dear Liver).

The songs themselves on Number One are pretty straightforward in the instrumental sense. The guitar kicks out highly distorted power chord progressions, while the bass follows along. They also throw in some bright, but short guitar solos into the middle of their songs as well. A good bunch of the songs also have choruses that are essentially the song titles shouted over and over again

There really isn’t much else to say about this album. I wish there was, but realistically this is a band that is trying much harder to stick with their partying theme rather than making their music stand out in a subgenre that at times can seem filled with clutter and sound derivative. With fourteen tracks Number One does drag on a bit too long. Cutting out a few tracks would have made the songs on this album not blur together, which is exactly what happens when listening to it all the way through.