We Are The In Crowd

Weird Kids

Written by: PP on 03/03/2014 23:19:17

We've reached the sophomore album by the most obvious Paramore clone band out there, We Are The In Crowd from Poughkeepsie, NY, and things aren't getting any more brighter for the band. Both their debut EP and debut album made it easy to dismiss them because of how slavishly they follow an identical format as Paramore, and "Weird Kids" continues along the same lines with sugar-coated pop melodies dressed underneath superfluous pop rock riffs that have had all the energy and life of quality pop punk sucked out of them.

Granted, if you listen to "The Best Thing (That Never Happened)" or "Manners", you might initially be convinced otherwise. These are upbeat songs with great choruses that are so infectiously catchy they make it difficult to bin the band outright. There are numerous such instances on the record, but they are dragged down by songs like "Come Back Home". This is one of the most formulaic pop rock songs you'll hear this year, it's both bland, uninspiring, and boring after just one or two listens. It's basically something you'd expect to be everywhere in the radio because it's so safe and inoffensive family friendly pop/rock.

At the same time you have to recognize that vocalist Taylor Jardine lacks the girlish charisma of Hayley Williams, so she can't simply sing the songs to a home run as has been the case for Paramore on a number of releases so far (as reluctant as I am to admit such a thing). The end result is a number of hit songs on a record that's otherwise full of dime-a-dozen pop rock songs that wouldn't be considered interesting by anyone if it wasn't for the female vocals novelty that the entirety of We Are The In Crowd seems to be based on. Even the dramatic, epic pop rock songs ("Long Live The Kids", for instance) fail to be memorable because of how bland the whole thing is. But I'll leave you with a positive note: there's quite a bit of male vocals mixed in on this one, so they're at least trying to forge an identity that wouldn't equal Paramore worship. "Weird Kids" just doesn't go far enough, at all.

6

Download: Manners, The Best Thing (That Never Happened), Attention
For the fans of: Paramore, Hey Monday
Listen: Facebook

Release date 18.02.2014
Hopeless Records

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