Future Hearts
The na-na-na refrains and marching beats on the soaring opener here, “Satellite,” sound absolutely epic—like a Skids anthem from the late ’70s. Then the album piles on the mountainous hooks and sugary hopefulness, from the boot-stompers “Kicking and Screaming” and “Cinderblock Garden” to the lifting “Tidal Waves” (which features Mark Hoppus from Blink-182). They heartily embrace their pop-punk roots on “Don’t You Go” and “Open Scars,” while a delicious, Squeeze-like descending hook propels “Kids in the Dark.” The layered, soon-to-be-classic “Runaways” really shows this Baltimore band to be songwriters to be reckoned with.
They’re never going to reinvent the wheel, but there is something intensely satisfying in their sugary hooks.