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Boys Like Girls

Album: Boys Like Girls

Label: Columbia Records

Website: www.boyslikegirls.com

Boys Like Girls are a similar ball of pop punk/energetic rock as All Time Low and The Academy Is, but much like no snowflake is identical to another so too can be said about Boys Like Girls. The band's self-titled album is produced by power punk magnate Matt Squire (Thrice, People In Planes, Panic! At The Disco), and uses an array of chord patterns to make each track one of its kind. If fans thought that bands have taken pop punk as far as the genre will allow, Boys Like Girls hit a new peak with their self-titled album and show that punk rock isn't a form of the past but of the present.

The single leading the album into commercial airwaves has been "The Great Escape" with rounds of energizing chord entanglements procured by lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni and the band's rhythm section of bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe. Leading the charge through the tracks is vocalist Martin Johnson whose admiral-like quality keeps the melodies standing upright and in shape. The band's mid-weight rhythmic thrusts and shape-shifting riffs are reminiscent of All American Rejects which gel with the lyrical content like in "Five Minutes To Midnight" as Johnson describes, "I've got a sickness, you've got the cure / You've got the spark I've been looking for / And I've got a plan we walk out the door / You know you wanna just let go / It's time to roll down the window and sing it."

The glittering guitar chords in "Hero/Heroine" resonate like a choir of shining lights as intervals of soaring riffs and smooth surfs move in and out of the melody with a serendipitous phrasing. The lo-fi modulation of "Thunder" is brimming with gently stroking beats ribbed by shots of bright beaming guitar riffs, while the soft-pop droplets of "Me, You And My Medication" create a reflective mood with gradually rising lifts and mountain-cliff plunges as the light twinkling guitar strings remain a mainstay. The brusque strut of the rhythmic grooves in "Dance Hall Drug" evoke synchronized conflagrations which move into the short fuses of "Up Against The Wall" producing a rush of flaming chords.

The slowly rolled power pop ringlets of "Learning To Fall" produce a seamless backdrop for Johnson's emotive voicing while the chord bursts running along "Heals Over Head" create fast moving dynamics. The power rock ballad of "Holiday" has chiseled movements and wide stretching vocals as violins lightly flutter below, but it's the anthemic appeal of "On Top Of The World" that gets the juices flowing with verses like, "Swear that I will see you something / I have to find a way to show you I care / Even if you're not there / So I'm following the road to where you are."

Pop punk does not lose its appeal or its romantic side in the hands of Boys Like Girls. The band's self-titled album has catchy melodies and anthemic tracks ready to please crowds in concert halls. The band stays within the lines of pop punk's parameters while making each track sound like its own. The songs are made for enjoyment and that they do..

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