Artist: Yellowcard

Album: ‘When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes’

Record Label: Hopeless Records

Soundwaves: 5/5

Sounds Like: The soundtrack to your summer

 

Yellowcard, one of the pop-punk juggernauts of the early 2000s, had its career stuck in music industry limbo for almost four years. A lack of support from the record label, flip-flopping of the band’s lineup and the band’s founding fathers embarking on ambitious independent side projects led to Yellowcard being relegated to collecting dust on a shelf.

But the beach-bum, surf-crazy mentality that catapulted Yellowcard’s pop-punk opus, ‘Ocean Avenue,’ into the headphones of mainstream audiences is back on its newest effort, the cryptically titled ‘When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes.’ Although lead singer Ryan Key and his bandmates explored the darker regions of the pop-punk genre on the last two albums before calling their hiatus, all brooding lyrics and moody guitar riffs have been replaced by the paragon summer soundtrack fans have come to expect.

‘The Sound of You and Me,’ albeit lengthy for an album opener, gives listeners a strong dose of what is coming with the rest of the album. Key’s voice soars on an emphatic chorus accentuated by the passionate drumming of LP Parsons and the band’s signature instrument: the electric violin played adeptly by band co-founder Sean Mackin. The violin may first seem like it wouldn’t mesh with the band’s poppy power chords, but in fact it ties the components of the instrumentation together well.

Lead single ‘For You and Your Denial’ starts with a violin solo that sounds like a philharmonic recital on steroids, which launches into a tandem effort that packs a mean one-two punch with Mackin on violin and Ryan Mendez on guitar. ‘With You Around’ is a nostalgic track, referencing everything from tracks on ‘Ocean Avenue’to a cameo of pop-punk compatriots Saves the Day in the anthematic chorus. If there’s one song that deserves to be loudly sung along to while driving with the windows down this summer, it’s this one, hands down.

‘Hang You Up,’ originally written for Key’s side project, ‘Big If,’ translates well into a full-band effort with a mid-tempo, lovelorn melody and a heavy emphasis on acoustic guitar. The softness the track leaves on the album is woken right back up with ‘Life of Leaving Home,’ an ode to the road with a violin-driven melody balanced with guitar chords that bleed blue skies and sandy beaches. If I ever set my alarm clock to this song, I swear I’d wake up back in 2003, a fitting anthem that would segue nicely into the albums of Yellowcard’s heyday.

The album rollicks on with ‘Hide,’ a quirky track that demonstrates Parsons’ nifty skills behind the drum set and a chorus that might as well be a direct injection of adrenaline to the system: fun to air guitar along to, raw and forceful. ‘Soundtrack’ is the least sugarcoated tune on the album. Although it wouldn’t feel out of place on the moody album that was ‘Paper Walls,’ it still has a significant summery feel to it that was missing on their last release. Lyrics like ‘look for me tonight and swear that nothing’s gonna break our hearts this time’ scream to be sung at end-of-summer bonfires everywhere.

Even with the raw energy the rest of the album contains, the CD crescendos on its last three tracks. ‘Sing For Me’ takes a new spin on vintage Yellowcard sound by mixing in some piano, a ballad of sorts for hopeless romantics with one of the biggest choruses the band has ever penned. ‘See Me Smiling’ is a force to be reckoned with — Key releases as much pent-up frustration as a tropical storm — and is a song meant for rainy-day listening.

The closer, ‘Be the Young,’ is a newly inducted member to Yellowcard’s pantheon of incredible album-enders. A spirit tune about the young and young at heart, ‘Be the Young’ will get concertgoers on their feet and backlit cellphones waving in the air when Yellowcard hits the road on tour.

It’s hard to ask for anything more from a pop-punk album: Vintage Yellowcard is back, bringing its arsenal of nostalgic, violin-driven, surf-punk sounds to a brand new level.

ervanrhe@syr.edu

Published on March 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman