Restorations: LP2

Artist: Restorations
Title: LP2
Format Reviewed: MP3
Format Released: 2nd April 2013
Reviewed By: Ben Goold

Every now and then you hear a band that you think you will immediately be able to place, that fit straight into a genre box with no question about it. Philadelphia's Restorations are not that band. The five-piece bring so much creativity to the table with their sound that the best place to put them is not in a place at all. Their sophomore full length, appropriately named LP2 is bursting full of a heavy helping of sub-genres that come together and taste just great.

Opening with the hard hitting, loud punk vibes of D, the album starts off with powerful drums, delayed guitars and Jon Loudon's gruff vocals that start the amalgamation of sounds to come.  Track two, Let's Blow Up The Sun is an organ layered feel-good track with heavy chords driving the chorus, which is contradicting to the more folky feel of Civil Inattention which has an intro that would sit well on a Mumford & Sons record (yes, you read that right).

A huge attribute this record has is the how much the bass lines drive some of the songs, Kind of Comfort could sit somewhere in the grunge movement but also has elements of The Beatles about it, but it's in the record's fifth track, In Perpetuity of the Universe that the bass line can be heard really pushing the song forward, beautifully sitting just above the interwoven guitar parts. New Old picks the pace back up coming in lively and fast, a punk rock song that is full of excitement and almost makes you feel like summer just started until its heavy ending which has a real fist-in-the-air vibe.

Quit opens on heavy bass chords layered with dissonant guitar effects. QOTSA and The Menzingers are two bands that you wouldn't expect to find in the same sentence but this track calls to mind both bands. Going back to their roots, the eighth track, entitled The Plan is reminiscent of earlier Restorations records, swinging its way towards the closing finale track Adventure Tortoise which, coming in at 6 minutes long, builds and builds to bring the album to a hearty close.

Restorations’ LP2 is an album the band should be proud of. It's different but not unlike anything you have heard before, it's a sound that hard to place but not one that you feel unfamiliar with. Whether you're a grown up punk, a fan of Springsteen, a through and through rock enthusiast or even a folky indie-punk kid there is something on this album for you.