Album Review: Fireworks - 'Oh, Common Life' | theMusic.com.au | Australian music news, gig guide, music reviews

In a world that encourages musicians to stay safe and well within the confines of ‘the box,’ there are artists that stick to the formulaic approach that they’re comfortable with. Of course, then there are artists like Fireworks who approach music with the type of refreshing attitude that simply refuses to ‘play by the rules'. Once again the band have shown this by delivering ‘Oh, Common Life,’ one of the best records to have seen a release so far this year.

Opening with the driving guitar tones of ‘Glowing Crosses,’ one of the darker tracks on the record, Chris Mojan and Brett Jones complement each other well. It's something that extends all the way throughout the record. ‘Bed Sores,’ which when paired with tracks like ‘Play “God Only Knows” At My Funeral’ and ‘The Only Thing That Haunts This House Is Me’ shows off a unique type of indie-rock infused pop punk that helps set the band apart from the rest.

‘The Back Window’s Down’ is one of the more impassioned tracks on the record, with vocalist David Mackinder singing of lost love, which boasts a very simple, yet catchy and effective chorus that will both stick around in your head and pull at your heartstrings. The track is a perfect example of the fact that you don’t need a great deal of complexity to create a great song. While being fairly straightforward, the track is an instant and lasting stand out on the full-length that will likely be a fan favourite for a very long time.

'Oh, Common Life' peaks on the penultimate track, ‘Run, Brother, Run.’ It's held together by strpng execution and immaculate delivery. On an emotional level as well, the song stands out among the rest, as David Mackinder sings of the acceptance of everything that’s wrong with life, recalling his father’s death, and pulling out lyrics as powerful as “I’m getting used to my skin, but it doesn’t feel right” or “Find the greatest books and flip to the end. In those last lines, you’ll find my friends”. The song is damn near perfect!

You’ve never really been able to lump Fireworks in with the rest of the crowd when it comes to the pop punk scene, but with ‘Oh, Common Life,’ they still manage to blow expectations out of the water. Yes, it’s still pretty early to make this claim, but it wouldn’t be particularly surprising to see ‘Oh, Common Life’ at the top of many Album of the Year lists come the end of 2014.