Australian band 5 Seconds Of Summer have finally released their self-titled album, after years of YouTube covers and original EP’s. After touring with One Direction and writing with the likes of Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low, they defy genre classification, but have still achieved great things.
The first track is one most people are now familiar with, number one single ‘She Looks So Perfect‘. It’s not hard to see why this song had chart success with it’s catchy chorus and easy to sing to ‘he-ey‘ repetition. The bridge is a nice little break from the high energy through the rest of the song where all but one guitar drops out and we can really hear Luke Hemmings‘ vocal, which hits some of its lowest notes in this section.
This is followed by another well received single, ‘Don’t Stop‘. While it may not have reached number one, it was only one off, and has a rockier feel, really showing the boys’ pop-punk influences. With more catchy, repetitive vocals it’s another track to get you dancing with a solid drum beat leading it. This time the bridge shows off guitarist Michael Clifford‘s vocals, showing just how talented this four-piece are. Not only does each of them play an instrument they all contribute to the singing as well, despite Luke being the main vocalist.
‘Good Girls‘ is another fun track, with a pop-y ‘do-do-do‘ vocal. We also get a comedy feel with this song in the form of little spoken additions to the lyrics, such as the line, “She can speak French (I think she’s fluent)“. Alex Gaskarth helped out on ‘Kiss Me Kiss Me‘ and it’s definitely a track you can imagine him singing with his own band. The bridge starts out with a bass lead instrumental and some synthesised music you wouldn’t be surprised to find on All Time Low‘s Dirty Work. Then we get pop-punk again with a short but sweet guitar solo from Michael.
‘18‘ is a track that was obviously written by the band themselves. It’s about the pains of being underage, and wanting a girl who can already go out, drink and have fun without you. This is a song a lot of the bands fanbase can probably identify, a large chunk of them being only young teens themselves.
The inevitable happens now as we get a true relationship song in the form of ‘Everything I Didn’t Say‘. It’s all in the title really, heartache over the girl who left, and wishing they could tell her all the lovely things they didn’t say earlier. The song itself is still very upbeat and pop-punk but it’s clear this is a more emotional and serious track than the previous ones, with less focus on the rhythm of the drum and bass and more on the vocals and feeling in them.
The two singles aren’t the only tracks on the album we’ve heard before. ‘Beside You‘ was originally released on their Somewhere New EP. While the chorus remains essentially the same, a lot more production has been put into the verses. This is understandable as the band now have a lot more within their grasp, but it has taken away from the raw passion of the original where nothing took away from the beautiful lyrics.
After the calm of the last two tracks we are back to some Gaskarth written pop-punk in the form of ‘End Up Here‘. The chorus has an energetic feel, with gang/screamed vocals behind the main melody and a Bon Jovi reference, how can you go wrong?
‘Heartbreak Girl‘ is another previous release, but less changes have been made to this track. It’s still a cheery upbeat song, in keeping with the general tone of the album. The mood then changes with the storytelling track ‘English Love Affair‘, with a darker feel achieved by lower guitar chords running through the song.
The final track definitely feels like a strange place to leave off. After the mostly pop-punk adventure this record has taken us on, we are left with ‘Amnesia‘, a classic break-up song with the title lyric ‘I wish that I could wake up with amnesia and forget about the stupid little things‘. It’s a great song and would stand out against the rest even if it was stuck straight in the middle. We get to see a more vulnerable side to the band in this emotional acoustic ballad of a song.
For the bands first album, it’s absolutely great, especially when you consider they had a hand in writing most of the songs (all but ‘Amnesia‘, which is the work of Joel and Benji Madden). There is room for development, of course, and with a bit more variety thrown in it would be better. It’s still a fun album though, and leaves us with high hopes for the future of 5 Seconds Of Summer.
