Punch Sky - Lifeguard Nights

While Lifeguard Nights' first album, The Church of Song, didn't impress me all that much, the second effort by Vincent Brue and his merry band has really grown on me. The thing is, I can't really explain why. Punch Sky offers a thing or two that's new but it isn't exactly a big stylistic change from its predecessor. Still, there's just something about its onslaught of catchy melodies that I can't shake.

The relentlessly upbeat "Sunshine" gets things started by mocking Metallica's "Enter Sandman" before introducing the biggest change since the first album, namely, horns. Brad Clymer and Ali Donohue on trumpets and saxes, respectively, really open things up with their horn arrangements. For "Unrequited Love", the punchy brass counters the hint of resignation in Brue's voice to make a song about a doleful subject anything but.

Lifeguard Nights have two guitar players - John Dorocki and Mike Biskup - so I don't know whom to credit here but songs such as "City of Golden Lights" and "Indian Summer" have great guitar parts composed of long sustained notes. I appreciate how flash and riffing were eschewed in favor of more austere measures which are melodic and emotive nonetheless.

Brue's scratchy voice still sounds more like he's pretending to sing than actually doing so but it doesn't matter. He's got four others adding vocals including Katy Cunningham whose angelic pipes shine here. Besides, when you try to realize what The Pogues would have sounded like had they come from New Jersey, as the band does on "Oh No", you just can't be a great singer and pull that off.

The album comes to a conclusion rather oddly, so be warned. "RSVP" is the last song and throws a little bawdiness into the mix. It's the two songs that preface it that are out of place. "The Fog" reminded me of Pavement while Jeff Tweedy could collect royalties for "Robin Hood" as it is a reworking of "Misunderstood". Both are great tunes but stick out like sore thumbs.

Despite the strange inclusion of the two songs above, Punch Sky is a solid effort overall with its abundance of catchy pop songs that firmly lodge themselves in your head and won't go away.