4/5 stars
Wave to Watch: Late at Night
Genre: pop-punk
Goes great with: Real Friends, Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, The Wonder Years
For years, pop-punk has been the voice of those kids who aren't really sure where they fit in or where they're going. But for Cleveland's own Light Years, they know exactly where they belong but not so much how to get there. It seems that the quartet, composed of vocalist/guitarist Pat Kennedy, guitarist Andrew Foerst, bassist Tommy Englert, and drummer Kent Sliney, are stuck in the limbo of their twenties, where they aren't allowed in the stands at high school football games anymore, but adults still refuse to take them seriously. In that, they are now a voice for the kids at Northeast Ohio punk shows, whose cars will take a good fifteen minutes to warm up on the ride home. But Light Years' shadow is beginning to be cast further.
On their EP, Temporary (Animal Style Records), released back in September of this year, the four-piece offers a simple sentiment: This will all be over soon, and I'll find the place where I belong. Kennedy says it himself on the final track, "I know where I belong/but how do I get there," because the mind always knows before the body.
The EP opens with "My Whole Life," and already Kennedy knows he is out of time and that he let his "whole life pass him by", but thinking of the past keeps him from "fading away". Yet, anyone could still find themselves bobbing their head to this track while stopped at a red light. It doesn't take a serious drum enthusiast to realize that Sliney has the chops to be a great; he drives this song.
What Light Years does well, in addition, are their slick guitar riffs that open each song and create an even slicker moment. "Fall Apart" is carried through on their musicality, even though the lyrics are broken and Kennedy is again defeated. This time, however, he offers well wishes to someone, even though he realizes that "it isn't easy/Not like it ever really was." "Fall Apart" captures the idea that all we will ever be doing is running out of time.
The title track is the most driven song of the album, and even though the chorus may offer a little bit of pop-punk awkwardness, it is completely earnest. "Temporary" gives hope to the first two tracks, churning the thought that "Everything is temporary." Taken a different way, the song can be suggesting that the good things are temporary, and cold winters will stay the night forever. Perhaps, for Light Years, this duality is a statement.
On their EP, Temporary (Animal Style Records), released back in September of this year, the four-piece offers a simple sentiment: This will all be over soon, and I'll find the place where I belong. Kennedy says it himself on the final track, "I know where I belong/but how do I get there," because the mind always knows before the body.
The EP opens with "My Whole Life," and already Kennedy knows he is out of time and that he let his "whole life pass him by", but thinking of the past keeps him from "fading away". Yet, anyone could still find themselves bobbing their head to this track while stopped at a red light. It doesn't take a serious drum enthusiast to realize that Sliney has the chops to be a great; he drives this song.
What Light Years does well, in addition, are their slick guitar riffs that open each song and create an even slicker moment. "Fall Apart" is carried through on their musicality, even though the lyrics are broken and Kennedy is again defeated. This time, however, he offers well wishes to someone, even though he realizes that "it isn't easy/Not like it ever really was." "Fall Apart" captures the idea that all we will ever be doing is running out of time.
The strongest point of the EP falls within the seamless "Late at Night", which could be taken as someone's angry anthem at 4 in the morning. With its Damned If I Do You... (All Time Low) reminiscent drums, this song is much much darker, suggesting a tortured night of wishing death upon himself, while still managing to hate someone else a little bit more ["I hate the person you are/I fucking hate the person you are"].
The final track, "Wandering", opens with "This life is slowly killing me/But I don't need your sympathy", seizing the idea that a kid in their 20s will never admit they are wrong or struggling or broken. Kennedy sounds sick of life, yet he still says that "I never wanted to leave".
Temporary is something almost anyone can relate to, whether or not you're a broke kid with a few messed-up thoughts. To Light Years, the past is still as relevant as the future. These four may not have their lives figured out quite yet, but their sound is solid and sincere; they are taking notes from pop-punk acts before them, but not too many notes. Light Years is headed for the top, but they still might be asking themselves, "How do I get there?"
//Angelia//
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