Music Reviews category interest

Perth, Australia's Sly Withers, the indie quartet who brought us the sing-song pop-punk anthem "Cracks" back in August, a song which, like so many others, helped get us all through this covid existence.  "Cracks" brought to mind the youthful exhuberance-cum-cynically pessimistic vibes of early Blink 182 andamp; Sum 41, and the new song, described by some as a "giant, triumphant mountain of celebration rock" seems to follow the same path of snappy, sarc-infested, radio ready pop-punk. 

Bougainvillea, the song is titled, referencing a genus of hot-pink flowered, thorny ornamental vines, native to Brazil andamp; Peru, seems to reference the hidden dangers lurking below the facade of a person or thing when one only considers their outer beauty. Then again, I could be reading a bit too much into the title as the song seems to be more of a coming-of-age song of self-relection andamp; regret. Who knows though, I'm just a dude typing words on a keyboard, judge for yourself.

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It's been rather interesting over the past year or so, to watch the whole pop-punk genre make a bit of an unexpected, yet welcome, comeback on the world stage, maybe as the inevitable answer to the overwhelming popularity of RandB influenced bedroom pop and the way that it seems to have literally shut out so many other, arguably more deserving styles of music, styles that require years and years of learning a craft, perfecting that craft and then honing it as part of a whole (band) rather than alone with a laptop and a few music production apps. It could be resurfacing and gaining in popularity for the same reasons that the original punk bands did in the late nineteen-seventies in answer to the excesses of disco or the way that grunge did in the 90s in drowning out the bubble-gum pop metal of the years preceding. This is a good thing. Sometimes it takes almost drowning in a sea of mediocrity for a life-line of excellence to come along and pull us back to where we belong. 

The sad thing, at least from the dark and dingy basement where I sit, is that, for those of us who live in North America, Europe etc., Perth Australia is about as far as it gets from, well, anywhere. Add to that, we have this whole world-wide pandemic of epic proportions thing which has all but shut down the music industry. All things considered, it may be quite some time before we get a chance to see Sly Withers on a live stage and hear their infectious tunes rattle around in our bobbing little heads at almost dangerous decibel levels, an unfortunate fact but maybe one that will build some anticipation of a return to normalcy and a planetary alignment that could come in the form of a world tour. We'll bide our time though with their infectiously fun videos and the hopes of another forthcoming full length. 

If you're a fan of artists like Four Year Strong, Blink 182, Set Your Goals or the Menzingers, do yourself a fabor and check out Sly Withers today. You'll be glad you did.