Against The Current - In Our Bones

"In Our Bones" is the debut album by American punk rocker's Against The Current. This album was released in 2016 after a string of EPs where they honed in their sound.  But after really looking into this album it turns out they really have gone all out to deliver a whole spectrum of sounds.

The album kicks off with a stormer. Namely "Running things gone wild". It's pop punk goodness with a healthily slice of electronic keyboard thrown into the mix.  The first band that springs to mind when listening to these guys is definitely Paramore. And they don't hide the fact that these guys do influence their music having done covers by them. Having a charismatic female singer in the shape of Chrissy Constanza also makes the comparisons easy.   "Young and Relentless" also shows of their pop punk sound very well and is a very catchy song.

But delving into this album further it is clear that Against the Current are not here to copy other bands but define their own path and go in different directions. Second track "Forget me now" drops the punk label and places firmly in the pop category. This is the kind of track where usually you would get a female singer singing it as a solo artist with a backing band. Not this singer as she is well and truly part of the band.  "One More weekend" is another uplifting pop anthem which is really catchy.

Another change of sound in the album can be found in the form of "Chasing Ghosts", also similar sounding "Wasteland" and "Blood like gasoline" which appear later in the album. The sound of Constanza's vocals are a lot more haunting in these tracks which is quite apt really considering the names of the tracks. The band which comes into my head here are Pvris.  The vocals especially are very similar to Lynn Gunn. Pvris were a band who started their journey at a similar time to ATC around 2011/2012. But while ATC went down the EP route then released this in 2016. PVRIS first full length came out in 2014 and their second album came out 2017.  So it looks like they really are part of the same scene.  While some of their music is similar, you can definitely differentiate between the two.

Title track "In our bones" goes in yet again in another direction as it is a nice stripped down acoustic song which really does show off Constanza's incredible vocals and probably her best vocal performance on the album.  "Brighter" is a softer song and a ballady type song focusing more on the keyboards. I love how it gently builds throughout the song and for me personally it is one of my favourites off the album.

Overall this is a really, really good album. I just love the diversity of the songs and you really don't know which direction they are going to take next.  They have their influences, they do sound like other bands in places, but in general who doesn't?  But in some way they have weaved out into the open to channel these influences into their own sound and produced an album which is well worth listening to.