State Champs, not to be confused with State Lines (who are coincidentally also releasing an album around now) or State Faults, are a New York band that play some of the most recognisable pop punk you’re likely to hear, even if you’ve never heard them before. This could be both a blessing or a curse for the band – they’re clearly very talented songwriters, able to add the ear-catching finishing touches to every song, but the downside is that a lot of their talent sounds borrowed from all over the pop punk spectrum, though that isn’t unusual by any means. ‘The Finer Things’ is the band’s second full length after 2011’s ‘Apparently, I’m Nothing’.
The strongest aspect of this album is that the band knows itself perfectly, or at least it sounds that way. As a result, the album sounds precision engineered to do pop-punk ‘right’. The choruses are all huge sing-alongs, catchier than the common cold, the guitars are full of sparkling leads and no-nonsense power chords and the rhythm section pulls off the controlled energy that puts the emphasis on pop rather than punk. Fans of New Found Glory and The Story So Far will find themselves in very comfortable territory.
While the album finds itself very much rooted in a ‘paint by numbers’ mentality, there are some moments that step forward in the runnings. For example, ‘Over The Line’ has an ever so slightly off-kilter breakdown-esque refrain that breaks up a song that would otherwise be near-indistinguishable from New Found Glory. These moments are few and far between, however, which leaves much of the rest of the album passing over without making a huge impression.
In terms of individual performance, Derek Discanio leads this album. Where the rest of the instruments are performed extremely tightly and do their job of filling out the background, Derek shines across the board. Basically every memorable moment is either centred around his vocals or aided by them and when thinking back to the album, they would create the context of my recollection (i.e. anything memorable would be thought of as ‘the part where he sings …’). The vocals are also the most pop-oriented aspect of the album, which gives a clear indication of where the band’s strengths and possibly even their future lies. Because of that, fans of more gruff pop punk will not find anything to keep them around.
As a bottom line, this album will delight fans of pop-heavy pop-punk. It is tailor made to appeal to anyone who enjoys fun and unchallenging songs with catchy hooks a’plenty. That is not my market, but I can appreciate the effort that went into making such a solid set of well-crafted, if perhaps a little unadventurous songs.
2/5
‘The Finer Things’ by State Champs is out now on Pure Noise Records.
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Words by Ben Kosma (@BenKosma)
