Every once in a while a group comes along that seem hellbent on killing you with thrills. Philadelphia’s Beach Slang are one such band – and their debut will make you thank whatever deity you subscribe to for the invention of a repeat button. Marrying romantic words with punk rock and indie guitars, they follow in the tradition of The Replacements, The Smiths and The Gaslight Anthem and make music you can get lost in for hours.
More like their incendiary live shows than their previous EPs, the ten-track opus is a short-but-oh-so sweet effort, brimming with lyrics that will be inked on the insides of school-books and the outsides of human bodies for years to come. The thunderous ‘Ride The Wild Haze’ is a particular stand-out on an album full of highlights, and their frontman James Alex sounds like a future superstar when he sings “I feel most alive when I’m listening/ To every record that hits harder than the pain.” The acoustic lullaby ‘Too Late To Die Young’ and the fuzz-laden ‘Dirty Lights’ show they know how to write top pop tunes too, and help make the LP one of the best debuts of the decade.