Blake Solomon
05/27/09, 09:56 PM
Transit – Stay Home
Record Label: Run For Cover Records
Release Date: Out Now
Not often does a band quell fears of mediocrity within seconds of an album’s beginning, but Transit do just that on Stay Home’s self-titled opener. Frenetic drum spanking and the lines, “So many days and nights of my life escape / It always fades away with time” create an instant spark. Talk about target marketing; there is perhaps no better way to describe the numbingly slow days of summer or spring break or whatever. Good things are sure to follow when a band can so succinctly lay their cards on the table.
“Stay Home” doesn’t give me chills as much as it gives me butterflies. Following up its gruff gang vocals is no easy task. But then comes the consecutive (but similar!) nut-kicks of “Nameless (Song To Static)” and “Stays The Same.” Transit's vocalists clearly think singing is for pu**ies, or maybe they believe the proper way to unleash the lines, “You’re an anchor / And a mistake / Will I have what it takes,” is through throaty, this-is-my-boomstick rasps. Regardless of motives, don’t feel ashamed if you wind up focusing on lead singer Jon Boynton's formidable presence. Still, the only reason he succeeds is due to the unexpectedly technical guitars of Tim Landers and Joe Lacy. Using “Atlas” as the example, it’s easy to view Boynton as the hulking mass of stone that Landers and Lacy meticulously chisel into classical (what!?) melodic punk.
It might be cliché to love “Outbound”, Stay Home’s intricate acoustic-to-electric climax number. I believe music finds us though, and this most definitely dug me out of a deep slumber. “As the world flies by outside of my window / I’ll be honest / I wouldn’t miss a thing / About these cold-hearted towns and distances in between,” sings Boynton, and by G*d if I didn’t stand up in the library, flip everyone the bird, and promptly set the place on fire. And for the sake of full disclosure, I fully admit to being entrenched in a limbo situation, as is the custom of us 20-whatevers. But even if you aren’t waking up each night with cold sweats, even if you’re happily married (or happily living for free in a basement somewhere, no judgments!), Transit have put motivation to music. If the time ever comes that you get sick and tired of, well, anything, there’s Stay Home. Shelve it if necessary, but please don’t bury Stay Home.
Recommended If You Like: newer Crime In Stereo, Lifetime, burger salesmen, Polar Bear Club, taco salesmen
www.myspace.com/transitma
Record Label: Run For Cover Records
Release Date: Out Now
Not often does a band quell fears of mediocrity within seconds of an album’s beginning, but Transit do just that on Stay Home’s self-titled opener. Frenetic drum spanking and the lines, “So many days and nights of my life escape / It always fades away with time” create an instant spark. Talk about target marketing; there is perhaps no better way to describe the numbingly slow days of summer or spring break or whatever. Good things are sure to follow when a band can so succinctly lay their cards on the table.
“Stay Home” doesn’t give me chills as much as it gives me butterflies. Following up its gruff gang vocals is no easy task. But then comes the consecutive (but similar!) nut-kicks of “Nameless (Song To Static)” and “Stays The Same.” Transit's vocalists clearly think singing is for pu**ies, or maybe they believe the proper way to unleash the lines, “You’re an anchor / And a mistake / Will I have what it takes,” is through throaty, this-is-my-boomstick rasps. Regardless of motives, don’t feel ashamed if you wind up focusing on lead singer Jon Boynton's formidable presence. Still, the only reason he succeeds is due to the unexpectedly technical guitars of Tim Landers and Joe Lacy. Using “Atlas” as the example, it’s easy to view Boynton as the hulking mass of stone that Landers and Lacy meticulously chisel into classical (what!?) melodic punk.
It might be cliché to love “Outbound”, Stay Home’s intricate acoustic-to-electric climax number. I believe music finds us though, and this most definitely dug me out of a deep slumber. “As the world flies by outside of my window / I’ll be honest / I wouldn’t miss a thing / About these cold-hearted towns and distances in between,” sings Boynton, and by G*d if I didn’t stand up in the library, flip everyone the bird, and promptly set the place on fire. And for the sake of full disclosure, I fully admit to being entrenched in a limbo situation, as is the custom of us 20-whatevers. But even if you aren’t waking up each night with cold sweats, even if you’re happily married (or happily living for free in a basement somewhere, no judgments!), Transit have put motivation to music. If the time ever comes that you get sick and tired of, well, anything, there’s Stay Home. Shelve it if necessary, but please don’t bury Stay Home.
Recommended If You Like: newer Crime In Stereo, Lifetime, burger salesmen, Polar Bear Club, taco salesmen
www.myspace.com/transitma