Album Review: Misser - 'Distancing'

There’s no question Misser have, from the get go, taken the pop punk world very much by storm. An amalgamation of This Time Next Year and Transit, it’s the stuff fans salivate over; a super-group side project that listeners have only dreamed about. Lesser bands would be likely to cave under that sort of pressure, but Misser blew everyone away skeptics and fans alike, with their first release 'Every Day I Tell Myself I’m Going To Be A Better Person', and ever since then hype surrounding their next contribution to quality pop punk has reached heights surpassing that of either of the members’ respective main bands. Their first EP, Distancing is nothing short of brilliant, but that’s just what we’ve come to expect from Misser who, iN such a short time, have proved themselves to be consistently solid.

‘Goddam, Salad Days’ kicks the album off with a reminder of the band’s uncanny ability to write endearingly hard-hitting hooks that run around your head for days at a time. The band work only with pop punk staples: electric guitar driven pop melodies, energetic punk tempos and edgy boyish vocals. But for Misser, the execution of each song in 'Distancing' seems effortless. ‘Infared’ starts off full force and unusually heavy compared to the more-pop-than-punk sensibility on earlier work. 'Alone, Die' is equally as influenced by the kind of vigor and aggression of ‘Infared,’ suggesting perhaps that Misser is favoring punk over pop this time around.

‘Burn Out’ is the most complex track on the album, and a true testament to all that Misser is capable of achieving. One of the best moments on the full-length comes when the vocalist muses, ‘We’re nothing but a spark, we were meant to burn out’ both accompanied by the full band and then alone, bar soft guitar,’ and it’s the kind of catchy hook that makes Misser so bloody addictive. ‘Slow It Down, Write It Out’ is the token, almost-acoustic track on the EP that the full force nature of the rest of the EP almost begs for by the end. It’s the perfect end to a virtually flawless EP.

It’s hard not to rave about Misser. Their approach to music is refreshing in a pop punk scene that has become oversaturated with bands that seem to be copying off one another. Misser possesses an indescribable spark and exceptional drive that makes them one of the most exciting pop punk bands in 2013.

1. Burn Out
2. Infared
3. Burn Out
4. Alone, Die
5. Slow It Down, Write It Out