Punchline: Thrilled

Artist: Punchline
Title: Thrilled
Format Reviewed: MP3
Format Released: 4th December 2015
Reviewed By: Dan Stoten

There are some rare occasions when I don't always read through the PR packs which accompany the music we receive in absolute detail: I scan through, look for the key words and then send on to the appropriate team member. On this occasion, I saw the term 'pop-punk' within the first paragraph, and having seen the band's name was Punchline, I expected a fairly hard-edged pop-punk record. I read no further into the PR.

Let's put it this way. Thrilled is by no means a hard-edged pop-punk record. What is is, however, is an intriguing melting pot of a variety of genres and styles mashed together.

The record opens with album title Thrilled. With a vocal than sounds slightly synthesised and electronically-enhanced backing track, I was left a bit cold until the guitar feedback which signals the arrival of the chorus. While it doesn't drop into a guitar-led chorus, it's a big, soaring effort of...noise, with Steve's vocal floating majestically on top of it. While it's far from a pop-punk, punk or even rock song, it's a pretty huge indie-pop beginning to the record.

The opening track also has the right amount of intrigue to keep the listener interested, and to continue with the record. Now I See comes next, another indie-pop with added synth track. There's little to write home about with this one: for me it sat solidly in the 'average' and completely inoffensive category. It flows into the gentle opening of Tell Me How You Sleep, a track which adds a little more edge to the synth/indie-pop focus. There's a very slightly more rough feel to the still hugely polished chorus, while the slowed-down pace works well with the vocal line.

To me, these first few tracks are very heavily reminiscent of Hellogoodbye. That's not necessarily a bad thing if this sort of gentle, soaring, synth-heavy indie-pop-rock is your thing, but I personally prefer my music to have a bit more edge, a bit more aggression to it...

The next track, No Stopping Us, therefore came as a massive surprise to me. It's a straight-up pop-punk banger which is brilliantly enhanced by the synth / electronic elements the other tracks are slightly hindered by. The chorus is similarly massive but way more catchy; the use of actual guitar is brilliant, jagged and riffy, the drums snappy and sharp, while the addition of brass and the whistle effect works perfectly. It's got the right amount of edge and passion and is by far and away the standout song on this record.

Telephone Pole then settles back into the previous few songs' groove: indie and synth abound. Again, it's a decent example of this genre if you like it. Let It Rise could well be Hosier song but does have some splashes of intrigue with jagged, feedback-like synth blasts.

As I say: this is a bit of an interesting one. It's difficult to provide a genuine judgement on, because No Stopping Us is an absolutely brilliant track, while the rest for me personally is all a bit unremarkable. That is most likely due to the fact that this isn't really my usual musical bag...but at the same time, Punchline have shown me an example of what they can do in No Stopping Us, so it's hard not to see the rest of the album as a bit disappointing in comparison.