Review Summary: I guarantee you'll find not only endless fun in the album, but you will also discover a deep connection with the songs. Recommended for anyone and everyone!!!
So there I was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, waiting to see Jeff Rosenstock and Bomb The Music Industry! blow my mind for the first time live. I patiently waited through the first two local and sloppy punk bands until the night came to the set of the third band, the last before BTMI! Preparing the patience for yet another set before Bomb's, this band, The Sidekicks, delivered a sound that patience would never be appropriate for. I soon found the patience I had built up quickly replaced by energy and enthusiasm inspired by the up-beat but unique sound of The Sidekicks.
I would have never found out about this band if it weren't for the coincidence that they were in the line up for that show, and it appears that they haven't been discovered at all on Sputnik either so I hope this review will change that because they really deserve some attention.
Although I haven't gotten ahold of their first LP So Long, Soggy Dog, their EP Sam along with this album really grabbed my attention. The EP introduced me to The Sidekicks' pop/alternative punk ambitions, which features 4 fantastic songs. Weight Of Air provides a similar sound, but with a bit more pop punk influence, and limitless energy to get you moving.
The first two full length songs of the album Looking and A Healthy Time rightly introduce the band's catchy guitar riffs and passionate vocals, as well as their style of song writing constant throughout the album. With lyrics like "Looking for love in all the wrong places" in the sing-along chorus of Looking and "It takes a healthy time to redesign our lives" in A Healthy Time, a feeling of desperate searching for peace and a constant life is illustrated, and is even more apparent when sung with the power and spirit obvious on the vocals.
Since their EP the band and their song writing have matured tremendously and have cemented their perfect collision of enthusiastic musicianship and heartfelt lyrics. This combination is exactly represented in Small which starts out with a slow but ever-catchy guitar riff, and eventually turns into a powerful sing-along at the chorus with lyrics and backing vocals to blend with the guitar riff flawlessly. Lyrics like "You make me feel so small, I feel like you're just floating above me and I'm beneath it all" further highlights the band's simple but genuine inspirations, inspirations that can be easily related to and get you singing along even louder.
What was also impressive about this album was that almost every song seemed to offer something different and exciting while still managing to maintain the unique Sidekick sound and energy throughout all twelve tracks. From the wailing, vocal-focused intro Let It Breathe, to the bluesy guitar in Static Mouth, to the unexpected but amazing ending to A Healthy Time, which made it one of my favorite tracks on the album. These diverse ambitions were great opportunities The Sidekicks took to show their creativity. This can also be seen in the grabbing intros to many songs, such as the swelling guitar backing the thumping drums in Looking, the dark growling bass and eerie guitar in the Fugazi-like intro to Weight Of Air, and the slow and sweetly picked guitar intro of Day-Staring.
Which brings me to my favorite song of the album. Day-Staring represents the maturity, soulful song writing, and musical creativity that The Sidekicks were able to achieve and deliver in this album, all in one song. The beginning begins with simple and soft guitar and with vocals whispering "As I'm day-staring my way through life, I ask my auto pilot 'step aside', like trying to coax a cloud down from the sky, come down here, make me alive", accentuating vocalist Steve Ciolek's great singing voice and writing abilities. Then when the rest of the band comes in to transition to the familiar upbeat tempo, it turns into a song you can feel from your ears to your soul. The end sums up the song perfectly with great harmonies and powerful bass drum thumps and the lyrics "I shouldn't be wasting time waiting for the pulse of something at all".
Finally, the last song Weight Of Air starts off darkly, bringing all the songs before it into a more serious perspective, Steve almost growling "More and more I feel sore from waking from a dream where I realize I'm actually still lonely." However the song, and album ends in the same fast and energetic sound, with the lyrics "I've become the weight of air, I move with each word you exhale" shouted and cried out without concern for pitch, summing up the maturity and sincerity of the songs before it.
In the end, I enjoyed watching The Sidekicks as much as I loved seeing Bomb The Music Industry!, which is really saying something cause all BTMI! fans will know how much energy and life Bomb has to offer in their songs. But, The Sidekicks not only matched Bomb with their energy but surprised and impressed me with the passion and genuineness in their performance. I profoundly recommend this band and album to anyone, I guarantee you'll find not only endless fun in the album, but you will also discover a deep connection with the songs.
