City Lights: The Way Things Should Be

Artist: City Lights
Title: The Way Things Should Be
Format Reviewed: MP3
Format Release: 10th December 2013
Reviewed By: Dan Stoten

There are times when familiarity is best, when classic, old-school, simple style wins through. New stuff, modern stuff, and original stuff is all well and good, but actually, sometimes we love something that's not going to challenge us or push us out of our comfort zone. Musically, this is what the second album from Ohio pop-punks City Lights is: a stunningly simple and old-school pop-punk album, and one done well. Very well.

If you're only into the 21st Century pop-punk style a la The Story So Far, you're going to find this album a bit outdated, a bit too Blink-182 teen-angsty. But this is the joy of The Way Things Should Be: it's an old-school pop-punk album which doesn't so much tick all the boxes as absolutely blow them away.

You have whining guitars. You have angsty, twangy vocal. You have pace. You have energy. You have catchiness. All of the needed elements for a brilliant old-school pop-punk album.

There are many highlights here: ironically it's genuinely all killer, no filler (thanks Sum41!). Lead single Promises, released back in October, immediately shows the listener what this band are all about, with gang vocals opening up to a fast-paced verse, suitably angst-laden lyrics, before launching into a brilliantly bouncy chorus. It's not complex or too try-hard: it's just fantastically done. Latest video, See You At The Top has more than a hint of This Time Last Year and Veara about it, as well as just a sprinkling of Bowling for Soup thrown in for good measure, but again it's so catchy and bouncy that you can't help but turn it up and nod your head along. There are no gimmicks here: it's pure, distilled pop-punk, and absolutely proud of that.

As we said earlier, there is no weak link on this record. There is no standard slower track on this album, with all tracks absolutely brimming with energy and enthusiasm. Idols, the eleventh on this twelve track disc, is a case in point, the song almost exploding from the speakers as it opens. There are albums similar to this which become somewhat tiring and samey towards their end, but City Lights appear to have absolutely cracked it: even the final track is strong.

It's difficult to say too much more about this record. It's quite simply a brilliantly refreshing hit of old-school pop-punk, arguably the way it should be done. It's unashamedly old-school, and so proud of that fact. City Lights need to be applauded for delivering such a record. This is one to start your 2014 off with a bang!


The Way Things Should Be is out now on InVogue Records.