Album Review: Let Me Run - Broken Strings EP

TThe addition of a new front man is always a sure fire way to mark with a break from your past and New Jersey’s Let Me Run make an adequate attempt at reinvention here. Improving upon 2009’s 'Meet Me At the Bottom', Let Me Run have crafted an EP that should appeal to fans from both sides of the pop-punk dichotomy. Though the EP begins in rather bland fashion with CSJ, things improve from there.

'Brocomotive' is a terribly monikered, but musically pulsating song that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Swellers release, though Dan Maxwell impressively puts his stamp on the song, showing off an impressive set of pipes in the process. If Kris Roe had chained smoked for all his life and listened exclusively to The Get Up Kids you can get a rough feel for Maxwell’s vocal style.

The Get Up Kids comparisons remain evident on 'Catch You When You Fall', a snorter of a track that relies on a typically backs to the wall optimism to carry its vocal hook. The EP falters slightly awhen you consider that though 'CSJ' and 'Ruiner' aren’t bad songs, they do smack of filler, lacking the hooks of other tracks and straying too far into stereotypical lyrical territory. If I have any major criticism of this EP it is that while Maxwell’s voice and the instrumentation serve to bestow on them a reasonably unique identity, the lyrics place them firmly back into predictability. While mostly avoiding the staple ‘girl trouble’ they hit many of the key topics of a nascent and struggling punk band: basement shows, drinking and paying the bills all crop up.

'Scared as Shit' reignites the EP, not the hardest rocking track, but definitely the one with the best hook. Channelling the spirit of New Jersey brethren the Gaslight Anthem with tinges again of The Get Up Kids, Let Me Run seem to find their niche with 'Scared as Shit' and the pretty special 'Thank You My Dear'. It’s nice to say something nice about people’s lyrics instead of berating them, and any novice song writer can relate to the line: “It’s hard to write a song when you’re happy”.

This is an impressive effort with a few standout tracks and a few weaker ones. On an EP this is slightly disappointing but the highpoints make up for it. Worth seeking out to hear 'Thank You My Dear' alone.

3/5

'Broken Strings EP' by Let Me Run is available now through Paper + Plastick.

Let Me Run on MySpace and Twitter.

Nick Robbins