I received a copy of the new Gentlemen Rogues album, Surface Noise, in the mail the other day. I’ve got it on for a second spin right now. Well, ok, I’ve got it dialed up on their Bandcamp page. Nevertheless, damn! This album has some serious pop hooks.
The new release from the Austin, TX quartet brings ten new tracks of uptempo rock and roll, filled with, as I mentioned, a whole lot of hooks. Vocal hooks, drum hooks, guitar hooks, bass hooks, yup. All hooks, all the time.
I hear hints of Replacements, and Screaming Trees. Some of the guitar work has a Weezer vibe. Perhaps it’s just me, but the vocals sound a bit like Billy Jo Armstrong mixed with Rhett Miller. I don’t mean to be all “name drop”, but I think that gives you a sense of the sounds going on here. It’s basically a veritable amalgam of poppy punk-adjacent sounds across multiple decades.
According to the one-sheet, “Surface Noise is a record full of well-turned guitar pop, complete with roaring chords and propulsive rhythms behind Dunlap’s clever and cultured lyrics” I can’t disagree with that statement..
Surface Noise is a co-release on both Double Helix Records and Shifting Sounds.
If you like your rock kind of punk and a whole lot poppy, by all means check out Surface Noise by Gentlemen Rogues.
-Jerry Actually