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Review: The Summer Set - Stories For Monday

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Stories For Monday is the highly anticipated new album from Arizona pop-punks, The Summer Set. The album that almost wasn’t, Stories For Monday sees the band re-discovering their love of music and bringing a rejuvenated energy that’ll leave listeners hooked, and will show everyone that these five are back in music for the long haul.

Stories For Monday sees The Summer Set bringing the pop-heavy pop-punk they’re known for and mixing it with an energy they’ve never shown before. Album opener - and lead single - “Figure Me Out” brings the energy and loudness of 2013′s “Boomerang”, centred around a piano, and this similar formula is seen in “All In”, “All Downhill from Here” (a throwback to 2009′s Love Like This) and closer “Wasted”.

The album also brings about an 1980s vibe with select tracks. “Change Your Mind” features the encompassing electronica and keyboard sound that the decade was known for. It’s an insanely catchy track with a quick pace, with the band opting to keep the lyrics simple and fun in order to focus on the instrumentation, “Hey, you, queen of the cool / Something about you / Making me lose my mind / Hey, you, rock ‘n’ roll dress / Hard to impress / Baby, I’d change your mind”. “Jean Jacket”, arguably Stories For Monday’s best showing, also features this 80s vibe, with it bringing to mind lighters in an arena.

Those looking for strong lyrical content don’t have to look much further than track nine: “Wonder Years”. A track older Summer Set bands can relate to, it speaks about remaining young at heart, regardless of your age or your experiences, “Promise you’ll remember / Forever, no surrender / Yeah, we’re all getting younger / Always in our wonder years”. It’s a strong track and one that’ll definitely resonate with long-time fans of the band.

However, while Stories For Monday is an overall strong release, there are a few tracks that do stand out as weak. “All My Friends” features a country-pop vibe that doesn’t fit in with the band’s sound, while “Missin’ You” is a bit too slow to keep up with what the rest of album has to offer.

Overall, Stories For Monday is an album every music fan needs in their collection. Without a doubt The Summer Set’s best release to date, it features the light-heartedness and fun the band are known for while incorporating a new-found maturity and song-writing ability. It was the album that almost wasn’t, and we’re incredibly happy that it came to be. 

This scene just wouldn’t be the same without The Summer Set.

Download: Jean Jacket

By Clare Fitzgerald

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