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Late Nite Wars

Who's Going To Miss You If You Go?

Written by: PP on 13/10/2011 18:44:53

Some bands are too short-lived. Late Nite Wars from Merrimack Valley, MA released a trio of EPs and one full length, "Who's Going To Miss You If You Go?", before disbanding due to differing priorities of life within the band. Makes their album title all the more valid question to ask, and in their case, the answer will be at least 46,000 people if you are to trust the last.fm statistics for the number of listeners to the band. Count me in as one of those guys after checking out their record.

The album opens with "This Is How You Disappear", a twinkly pop punk song which has its roots in Moneen style emotionally complex soundscapes. Their singer's anxious, but hopeful cries ascertain that all of their songs carry an emo subtext to them, despite clearly drawing far more from fast paced punk melodies and simple chord structures than Moneen did back in the day. Elsewhere, parallels are drawn to the introspective and challenging ahead-of-its-time expression of Boys Night Out (after their screamed pop punk era), as well as to the simpler but so easily enjoyable material by bands like Transit and Washington Square Park. Many have also compared songs like "Rock, Paper, Bitters" to Lifetime classics given their d-beat approach, however, Late Nite Wars are leaning too much on emo and indie-alternative to justify a full connection to the melodic hardcore legends.

The bottom line is that with songs like "Work Isn't Working", "Dragon The Anchor", "Death By Routine", "Bones", and yes, almost every song on the album, Late Nite Wars present a hybrid sound that takes the best of two very different styles. The vocals are packed with emotion and honesty, but reach out into pop punk style choruses ensuring you have plenty of singing along to do during the course of the album. The instruments are fast, but interesting composition-wise, meaning you always have a quirky little lead or an angular riff layered on top of the simpler chord-based rhythm department. It's a real shame they disbanded so soon, because the ingredients used throughout the album are the kind of materials that result into a cult following similar to that of Moneen, Boys Night Out and many others like them.

Download: This Is How You Disappear, Death By Routine, Bones, Dragon The Anchor
For the fans of: Moneen, Transit, Washington Square Park, Lifetime, Boys Night Out, Caleb Lionheart
Listen: Bandcamp

Release date 10.05.2011
Panic Records