These Kids Wear Crowns

Canadian six-piece These Kids Wear Crowns open their first major label release with the synth laden Skeletons, which sounds at first like a rocked up variation of 3OH!3. , They quickly follow this with This Party Never Stops a party anthem with its catchy tag-line reiterated throughout by their lead vocalist Alex Johnson. This and the vibrant and catchy title track Jumpstart are both infectious and by far their most enthralling efforts on the record, even though most others stack up quite well, this is testament to the quality of songs that span the entire album.

“Can you feel the electricity in the air, anytime, any place, it will always be there”. Lifetime begins lightly and then moves to become uplifting and captivating at its height while Break It Up offers a different sound and Good Friends (With Bad Benefits) is engaging, inviting and enthralling, while also remaining upbeat and catchy, all typical of this commercially appealing band.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody is upbeat but seems mediocre in comparison to some of the other delights on this record, and so it can pale by comparison, sounding like a synthed up cover of the popular song of the same name. The vocals by Johnson are however enthusing and worthy of mention, providing some spark to the song, they essentially made this song their own and do it well. Introduced with a cool melody, some attitude and accentuated accent, Oceans bounds along while getting away with some enthusing lyrical content. This is exemplified by the lyrics “Going through the motions, swimming through these oceans”. From the outset, despite the loud surprise of a phone vibrating, Don’t Sweat It has many similarities to Panic! At The Disco with its pop-punk concoction that ensures it’s nothing original or highly engaging as is to be expected. Essentially, this is another attempt at a party anthem to add to their catchy pop tunes.

Let’s Ride is a likeable song worth a listen, it grows and ascends to its pleasant chorus and flows with ease. Johnson emotes such lyrics as “Baby if you don’t want to stay, I will take you with me, I will take you with me”. We All Fall Down is simply a great song with similarities to All American Rejects but with more of a pop-feel to it. Another pop-party anthem that has Johnson enthusing “We all fall down, but get up for the weekend”. This eleven track album is satisfying, and their live shows seem like something well worth looking forward to if they can pull all their synth and electronics from the studio onto the stage.source