Sorority Noise
Joy, Departed

These days I'm listening repeatedly to the new, beautiful album by Sorority Noise, and the memories tied to my nineties have resurfaced. Their sound is steeped in that mythical decade, that healthy emo that is (almost) no more, that laid-back grunge, and that ironic yet profound punk that accompanied my summer days when I was a kid.

It seems strange that today, nearing thirty, I can be captivated by an album like this, but it happened again. Like last year with The Hotelier, this year Sorority Noise brought out emotions linked to my preadolescence. Topshelf Records made another smart move, taking these young Connecticut guys under their wing, predicting they would hit the mark. And with their brand new album Joy, Departed, they have definitely hit the mark.

If "Blissth" opens with violins and piano, "Corrigan" explodes with punk/emo reminiscent of both the nineties Weezer and the more recent The World Is a Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die. The beauty is in the music, which, though reminiscent of something already heard, strikes and moves, and in the deep and melancholic lyrics that involve and stick perfectly to our memories, to our lived life.

The guys know what they're doing, demonstrated by two of the best tracks of the entire album: "Fluorescent Black" which closely resembles the more introspective sound of the Pianos Become The Teeth, and "Your Soft Blood", which shines with its own light with a melody that saddens and fascinates. This is the emo we want to hear in 2015, this is the perfect sound for those who, like me, nostalgically miss that sweet innocence we had as kids.

With this second work, Sorority Noise prove to be a great band with great potential. The group's voice, Cameron Boucher, has managed to squeeze all his experiences and all his emotions into every single track of the album. They know how to entertain by playing interesting and never boring pop-punk (just listen to "Nolsey" to get an idea), and they know how to move by pulling out personal and intimate tracks from the hat (like the delicate "Fuchsia"), capable of penetrating even the stoniest heart. This album, Joy, Departed, doesn't demand too much but makes us reflect. An album that flows in our ears without hitches but leaves us with that nostalgia for the good old days that we'll never recover.

Sweet, fun, carefree, melancholic, and moving, the ten tracks of this album are the right songs for these summer nights around a bonfire. Us, our life as thirty-somethings, and the images of us as kids living without too much stress and without worries.