The somewhat recent signings of pop punk/indie bands Transit, A Loss For Words, and Make Do And Mend came as a bit of a surprise to me because Rise Records has always been pinpointed as a great label for post-hardcore bands. The signing of Misser was not as much of a surprise because Rise has been starting to show that they want to expand their label into more genres. Despite playing a different style of music than the majority of their label-mates, the aforementioned bands are likely to get more exposure than they would if they were on a lesser known label.
Misser is a two-man project of Tim Landers (Transit) and Brad Wiseman (This Time Next Year). They released an EP entitled Problems. Problems. Problems. in 2011 and started recording their new album Every Day I Tell Myself I’m Going To Be A Better Person shortly after. It was released digitally on May 15th and is expected to be released in stores sometime during the summer of 2012.
The first song, “Permanently”, is eerily similar to Brand New. It’s a very short song, but if I hadn’t known any better, I would have guessed I was listening to Brand New. Near the end of the album, there is a song titled “Sanity” that is also very reminiscent of Brand New. I have become a huge fan of Brand New as of late, but oddly enough, these are two of my least favourite tracks. The other song that I don’t like as much is titled “Stay Asleep”. These songs are, in my opinion, the weakest on the album because they are much slower paced than the rest of the album. Thankfully, these songs are approximately a combined six minutes and they are the only flaws (I use this word very loosely as this is not much of a flaw) of the album. During the rest of the album, Misser brings a few very important aspects to the table. First, the vocals sound incredible and the lyrics are very catchy. Second, the guitar parts are very good. It’s quite obvious that Tim really likes the pop punk/indie style of guitar that he displays on Transit’s albums because it is maintained in this project. Last, but not least, the majority of the songs are extremely catchy and have a feel good vibe to them.
Every Day I Tell Myself I’m Going To Be A Better Person features some of my favourite pop punk songs of 2012 in “Bridges”, “I’m Really Starting To Hope The World Ends In 2012”, “Reconnect This”, “Bad News”, and the re-recorded version of “Just Say It”. All of these songs are executed almost perfectly but the song that sticks out the most is “I’m Really Starting To Hope The World Ends In 2012”. Everything about it is in fact perfect. The lyrics. The vocals. The guitar parts. The instrumental outro. Everything.
From start to finish, the album flows very well and it’s apparent that Tim and Brad have found some chemistry with each other. In my opinion, Misser features the best elements of Transit and This Time Next Year to form an incredible pop punk duo. I am a fan of Listen & Forgive (Transit) and Drop Out Of Life (This Time Next Year), but Every Day I Tell Myself I’m Going To Be A Better Person is much better than both of them. Just a few short days after listening to their debut full-length album, I am already waiting for more music from these two.
Links: Facebook
For Fans Of: Transit, Turnover, Citizen
