Album Review: Boston Manor - Saudade
By Devon Hannan, Contributor
[Pure Noise; 2015]
Rating: 2/5
Key Tracks: “Trapped Nerve”
Saudade, the new EP by Boston Manor, was released this past week through Pure Noise Records. Pure Noise, a record label known for releasing cookie-cutter pop punk bands, has done just that yet again. Boston Manor’s release simply cannot fill the desperate need for something new in the pop punk scene--a void that Pure Noise has helped create. Saudade is a spitting image of The Wonder Years’ approach to The Greatest Generation, a formula that almost every pop punk record of the past three years has adhered to.
The EP opens with “Gone,” which begins with a few seconds of not-so-typical instrumentation. However, it quickly takes a turn for the generic formula the genre tends to follow; catchy guitar intro, monotone shouting, repetition of the first lines as the chorus, quieter lyrics with percussion only, chanting of the same three words, and finally, an abrupt ending.
Following “Gone,” “Trapped Nerve” also follows a pretty predictable structure, but to throw them a bone, there is a solid breakdown around the one-minute mark. Frequent references to various anatomy and metaphors connecting physical medical conditions and strong emotions are made throughout. The lines “So chew me up and spit me out / I'll hit the bed before I drown” sound like something that Mat Kerekes of Citizen wrote in 2013.
The second to last track, “Asleep at the Wheel,” blends in with the other songs. This tends to be the case throughout the EP--all of the tracks blend together fairly well, but that is probably because they all sound very similar.
“Shade,” the closer, arguably has the most variation on the EP. The entirety of the track isn’t just set at one “shouty” volume, which is refreshing. Overall, it still follows basic pop-punk protocol; however, it offers a bit more than its peers.
Boston Manor’s first EP with Pure Noise falls nothing short of what a typical release from the label sounds like. It’s nothing new, and it’s nothing that is going to propel the band to major success either.
