Kickin’ the sky until it breaks the day
Spring has been a big ol’ pile of shit in Regina, Saskatchewan this year.
True, we had an unseasonably warm stretch of a couple of weeks in April, but May has been nothing but high winds, abnormally cold temperatures, snow, and rain. It’s enough to make one go back into winter hibernation mode. Or at least it was until I started spinning this little slice of sunshine.
Toronto’s Junior Battles are on to something. A lot of the reviews I’ve read for their self-titled 7″ pick up on a thread of 90’s throwback/nostalgia that seems to run through this tiny collection of songs, but to me their appeal has less to do with what they have in common with their pop-punk forefathers and more the exuberant and varied arrangements that place these tunes in a decidedly modern context.
Lead-off track “Basements” is definitely ear-catching. It’s tempo is constantly shifting, a mostly-perky chord arrangement and a trickily-drummed bridge providing a note-perfect under-pinning for the heavily-harmonized vocals. The vocals have great momentum as well, adding more and more layers of harmony as the song continues.
As with most great pop-punk, the vocal melodies and harmonies take center stage on Junior Battles. They fall more in the vein of bands like Jawbreaker (but smoother), Hot Water Music (but less gruff), or earlier Green Day (yup).
Lyrically they have a strong tenor of “band songs,” concerning their reliance on records and songwriting/performing to get them through the long, dark, cold Canadian winters. Not hard to relate to, obviously. There is a road/touring song as well (the perfectly-titled “Roads? Where We’re Going, We Definitely Need Roads”), but it leans more towards the, “Isn’t it great we get to do this for a living?” tone than anything else. “”Update Your Resume” strikes the lone chord of discontent, lamenting the pitfalls of the record industry versus the glory of playing music.
The Battle-rs recently partnered up with one of my favourite musicians of the modern era, Eric Solomon, to serve as the backing band and touring partners for O Pioneers!!! after their latest personnel breakdown. It’s an interesting partnership, considering the relatively disparate levels of pop and polish in their respective material. But if it works I think both bands stand to benefit immensely. Even if it doesn’t, we’ve got a terrific slab of wax here to help remember better days.
Now I just have to track down a copy of their EP.
Physical: 7″ records available here
Digital: From ‘If You Make It’, which is available for free.
