  
Lincoln quartet The Living Daylights hit your
speakers hard after a tough sixth months, which
saw them part ways with their singer and bassist,
returning with their super positive sophomore
album What Keeps You Breathing.
This record is a simple affair where everything
from production to playing is done well and to
the best of the bands ability; which is above
average for a punk band, especially one from little
old England. The sound is tight and clean in that
head nodding, leg shaking way any music fan is
familiar with. The vocals from new front man Danny
Harrison are strong, confident, and accented.
Now there is nothing worse than a guy singing
in a faux American accent and Harrison does slip
in and out of that trap, but as is the case on
title track ‘What keeps You Breathing’
the sheer rawness of his authentic British vocal
“its been a while” intercut with the
melody of American pop-punk steers it away from
dangerous territory.
In reality this is a pretty standard pop-punk
record and yet it’s hard to say who The
Living Daylights sound like, they aren’t
quite punk enough to be lumped in with Rise Against
or NOFX, but they aren’t pop enough to be
Blink 182 either. What we’re left with then
is straight up punk minus the anger that’s
usually associated with that scene; it’s
bold, easy, and fun, the kind of music that puts
a smile on your face and a beer in your hand and
that’s just the last guitar hook on final
track ‘Beyond This Town’.
The Living Daylights start things full on with
the poignant lyric “we’ve bowed our
heads for too long” and from the moment
that kick-drum starts you’re off on the
rollercoaster of small town life, “the days
and weeks just turn to debris in this place,”
that is filled with infectious choruses, riffs,
and anything else you can catch.
Nothing about this album breaks new ground and
lyrics like “keep cutting against the grain”
are now stereotypical punk-rock staples, it’s
hard to imagine a time when that was original,
but it doesn’t really matter that you’ve
heard it before because it works. What Keeps You
Breathing is a strong second album from a perfectly
decent punk band.
3.5/5
Review by Lauren Mullineaux
|
