Hit The Lights

Coast To Coast EP

Written by: PP on 10/09/2009 15:52:41

Oops, this one almost passed me by unnoticed, but better late than never, right? By now everyone should be familiar with the pop punk sensation Hit The Lights, who have put out two ridiculously infectious albums since their inception in the form of "This Is A Stick Up...Don't Make It A Murder" and "Skip School, Start Fights". Both albums feature some of the catchiest high school / 4th wave pop punk around these days, and especially the first record is the reason why you'll sometimes have to shake your head in disbelief over exactly how many poppier-than-poppy pop punk clones there are around these days. Anyway, if you ask me, Hit The Lights have always been a level or two above the rest together with All Time Low, but there are of course other opinions as well such as TL's who absolutely hates these guys. Trust me on this one though, he just hasn't listened to these guys enough, as both records wipe the floor with either of the latest two Fall Out Boy albums.

So why are the band putting out a new EP called "Coast To Coast"? The band itself goes on to state "we did this to give out fans a little something to hold them over until we drop a new record in 2010, it was a chance to try some new things. We hope everyone enjoys it as much as we enjoyed making it.", but I'm not sure how many new things are being tried here exactly. The opening title track has a fuckin' sweet lead riff that functions as an instant attention grabber, as well as a chorus that's fine-tuned to sound slightly more like the fun-oriented debut album than the more serious sophomore record. The second brand new track "Pulse" doesn't stick to your mind as well, however, because here the instrumentation sounds like Hit The Lights on autopilot. Even so, the chorus is still sticky, even if not as good as before.

The other four tracks on the record are merely covers and acoustic renditions of older tracks. "Drive Onto Me" is an ultra poppy cover of the Elliott track, and readers with their emocore knowledge in order will recognize "Snowbirds And Townies" to be a Further Seems Forever cover. Honestly though, the track suffers from the glossier production and the pop punk feel that takes away the emotional charge almost entirely. Then we've got the crappy acoustic covers of older tracks, "Tell Me Where You Are" and "Make A Run For It/The Call Out", but when are acoustic versions of fast pop punk songs ever considered good? These ones are so sugar sweet that it's impossible not to vomit inside your mouth and skip them both. Considering that the covers aren't too interesting either, only 2 out of 6 tracks are worth anything on this record, and as such, any Hit The Lights fan is advised to wait until 2010 instead of spending money on what is essentially a cash grab.

5

Download: Coast To Coast
For the fans of: All Time Low, Houston Calls, The Years Gone By, The Friday Night Boys
Listen: Myspace

Release date 23.06.2009
Triple Crown

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