Ask For The Future
Satellites
Self-released, 2009
With the cavalcade of emo-punk bands passing by, it's hard to write about all of them. And I have a problem with that, because I like this stuff--all of it for the most part. Like Santa on Christmas Eve, all the cookies taste the same, but they're always good to eat.
But here's Ask For The Future which immediately recalls Jimmy Eat World, a slower Yellow Card and The Starting Line. The second track, "The Same Dream" sets the tone early with a free-wheeling optimistic intro that hits all the poppy notes and will make the kids sing alot to "We all want what what we can't have" told in the familiar "I" vs. "You" narratives so popular in the angst-ridden, relationally frustrated young adulthood.
But once they throw a bone to their core demographic, Ask For The Future opens it up with "Magic 8 Ball"--an extremely clever song about trying to foretell a relationship's future. It hits on all cylinders, so to speak, letting the band tick at its top level while still adhering to the music the band likes. But really the song's structure is perfection pop--a head-shaking bridge with a soft hit charms and even memorable verse lines and an added guitar solo smacked on for no extra charge.
Ask For The Future isn't all lollipops and hopscotch. "Neither Seen Nor Heard" does ominous loss turned apologetic very well. "Keep Myself From Falling" may even trip into roots rock territory slightly, but thankfully they shelve that pretty quick in the choruses.
Poppy pop punk is this band's sweetspot though finding a rough edge would do the band well. Often, even for an unsigned band, Ask For The Future seems a bit too slick, dangerously close to becoming just an empty shell. More rock, I say, to punch up their otherwise well-crafted sound.
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