{"id":3241,"date":"2017-01-19T11:10:14","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T11:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-thin-lips-riff-hard\/"},"modified":"2018-07-09T21:26:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T20:26:58","slug":"review-thin-lips-riff-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-thin-lips-riff-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Thin Lips &#8211; Riff Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/18d9af4dae5cde25dcfab4f95990fd70\/tumblr_ojgp24CanU1r8no6so5_1280.jpg\" width=\"250em\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>Released in the US last year, <b>Thin Lips<\/b>\u2019 debut <i>\u2018Riff Hard\u2019<\/i> has come to our shores following their signing to indie label <b>Big Scary Monsters<\/b>. The Philadelphia foursome follow a similar surfy, pop-influenced punk approach to some of their label mates, most notably Beach Slang. It\u2019s a familiar sound, but there are enough other influences on the record to make it sound, if not quite original, then at least musically informed.<\/p>\n<p>For example, <i>&#8216;Never Again\u2019<\/i> carries the aesthetic of the new school of indie-pop-punk purveyed by other BSM bands, but songwriting-wise is unashamedly rooted in 2000s pop punk. This works to their advantage, allowing <b>Thin Lips<\/b> to deliver two-and-a-half minutes of irresistible power-pop. But later tracks like <i>&#8216;What\u2019s Wrong\u2019<\/i> betray the band\u2019s emo influences, while <i>&#8216;I Wonder\u2019<\/i> incorporates a classic rock-esque riff.<\/p>\n<p><!-- more --><\/p>\n<p>Heartache is a recurring theme here, with most of the tracks dealing with love and loss, or break-ups. The tone is set by first track <i>&#8216;DEB\u2019<\/i>, which opens proceedings with the lyric <i>\u201cI\u2019ve been having nightmares again, been waking up and trying to pretend that you\u2019re still here\u201d<\/i>. There are a few lyrical cliches like <i>\u201cI\u2019m not the girl I used to be,\u201d<i> but they feel earned. Later <i>&#8216;Mouth Skinned Like an Apple\u2019<\/i> has an interesting vocal approach that personifies these themes, with vocalist Chrissy Tashjian\u2019s strained voice conveying the song\u2019s raw emotion.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>All these tracks see <b>Thin Lips<\/b> at their best, punchy and fun while still heart-on-sleeve emotional, but the second half of <i>&#8216;Riff Hard\u2019<\/i> does contain some duds. <i>&#8216;No Obituary\u2019<\/i> and <i>&#8216;Andy Weed\u2019<\/i> are both largely forgettable, despite some interesting compositional elements in both, and the band\u2019s general sound does begin to grate after a while.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, though, <i>&#8216;Riff Hard\u2019<\/i> is a solid debut. Is it the most original, world-changing punk rock record ever to be released? Definitely not. Is it still great fun and full of well-written songs? Hell yeah it is.<\/p>\n<p>3\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;Riff Hard\u2019<\/i> by <b>Thin Lips<\/b> is released on 27th January on <b>Big Scary Monsters<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Thin Lips links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/XThinLipsX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/xthinlipsx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/xxthinlipsxx.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Alan Cunningham (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/funeral_polis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@funeral_polis<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Released in the US last year, Thin Lips\u2019 debut \u2018Riff Hard\u2019 has come to our shores following their signing to indie label Big Scary Monsters. The Philadelphia foursome follow a similar surfy, pop-influenced punk approach to some of their label mates, most notably Beach Slang. It\u2019s a familiar sound, but there are enough other influences [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[136,2358,2348],"class_list":["post-3241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-big-scary-monsters-records","tag-riff-hard","tag-thin-lips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Thin Lips - Riff Hard - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Released in the US last year, Thin Lips\u2019 debut \u2018Riff Hard\u2019 has come to our shores following their signing to indie label Big Scary Monsters. 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