Album Review: Transit - 'Joyride'

3 November 2014 | 9:45 pm | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

The one and only chilled-out summer soundtrack you’ll ever need!

Sometimes in life all you need are some cheery, catchy tunes, and some hopeful bliss and you’re good to go. But just before you kick that front door down in your new wayfarers and khaki shorts, make sure you take the new Transit album with you, presumably via your Chinese made Apple and/or Sony products.

Joyride’ – the band's third full-length - is a very welcome addition to the ever-expanding indie/pop-punk scene in 2014. Unlike bands like The Wonder Years, The Hotelier, La Dispute, Transit don’t want you to cry and make you mope around, rather they want you to be positive, and their music reflects that. Unlike Neck Deep, The Story So Far, and Knuckle Puck the group doesn't want you to hate your ex with some form of life-long vendetta that can only be quenched by ignoring them, never thinking of them, at least until you write a catchy, angst filled pop-punk song about said ex. Yes, some songs, like lead single ‘Rest To Get Better’ and the country influenced ‘Nothing Left To Lose’ are about the collapse of relationships but it never becomes preachy or wrist-slittingly depressing, rather, it makes you think positive. In fact, this album is probably the most PMA album of 2014 (excluding the new Sticky Fingers album).

At its core, ‘Joyride’ is an easy going, simple, incredibly catchy forty minute listen whose sound ties in nicely with the warmer weather that’s starting to set in here in Australia. So there’s really no excuse to check it out, unless of course you’re dead or you don’t like having a good time. Also, it sometimes helps to name your record something that might sum up the feeling you get from listening to it. Thankfully, unlike a late night joyride ending in a horrible, screeching crash and lots of teenagers crying (wow, that was really dark), ‘Joyride’ is an actual musical joyride.

Front to back, it just sends good vibes your way in the most irresistible cheery way possible – Transit’s warm, soulful music. From the opening drum groove of ‘The Only One’ to the final call of, ‘This is my love song, and this is how it ends’ in‘Follow Me‘, the band punches out catchy choruses that are coupled with simple, honest lyrics, all of which have a touch of brevity to them. You can’t also talk about the album without mentioning the crisp, warm guitars that have more soul than all of the Dark Souls games put together. With the band's sound being pretty minimal in instrumentation, it helps to create one really relaxing and joyful listen, and it’s one that doesn’t ever become lacklustre, which was an issue with their last album, ‘Young New England’.

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Transit's third album proves that you won’t always need crushing breakdowns, hectic blast beats, and a plethora of crazy time signature and tempo changes to be that cool kid on the block who looks and sounds cooler than everyone else. Sometimes you just have to be the nice, honest kid down the street, who’ll be sitting around blasting one of 2014’s better releases.

Your last album was a bit of a dud. One of your founding members recently high tailed it out of the band. And the scene is more saturated with bands than ever before. So what do you do? You just stick to your guns and make a record with the same enthusiasm, tone and feel that made people like you in the first place. Simple!

1. The Only One

2. Saturday Sunday

3. Rest To Get Better

4. Pins and Needles

5. Summer Dust

6. Ignition & Friction

7. Loneliness Burns

8. Sweet Resistance

9. Fine By Me

10. Too Little, Too Late

11. Nothing Left To Lose

12. Follow Me