AWmusic

A humorous and upbeat follow up to their last album “Word Is Bond”, which takes a whole new direction while keeping up to their old antics at the same time. Definatley worth the couple bucks.

The Good – Great price, could be the cure for depression, amazing vocals, clear and crisp sound, awesome cover of “Lump”, hilarious lyrics, great variety of instruments used, awesome follow up, bonus track

The Bad – Really short, tracks may sound repetitive, album makes band come off as arrogant and womanizing

Lets talk about SEX. No, not about the action shared between a man and woman or however else you may do it. I’m talking about The Johnstones latest album, which was a must buy for me after seeing them for the first time at Cutting Edge Fest this year. Trust me, this is an album you will definatley want in your collection if you’re a huge ska fan.

The Johnstones have outdone themselves with this album. A whole lot cleaner and even more estatic than the last, they have proven that they can go over and beyond to make an even bigger name for themselves. The two songs that stand out the most on this album for me would be “Bank”,”Tonight”, and “Bring It Back Around”. But there in lies one of the first problems I found with the album because I basically just named off every track on the album right there. It’s actually that short of an album.

What it lacks in length, it sure does make up in value. The album is priced at only 5$ and is an incredible deal for an album that bursts fourth with so much attitude and zazz. First time listening to the album I remembered I was smiling the whole way through it. Their music is just so happy and upbeat that you can’t help but crack a smile. Even looking at the lyrics, you’ll get a huge kick and a laugh from what some of the songs are actually about. This especially includes the secret bonus track at the end of the album entitled “The Governator” where the two lead singers, Ryan Long and Jarek Hardy, verbally attack each other throughout the song, which I can’t help but laugh any time I hear it played.

Looking at the lyrics also shines another side on the band. If you read over the lyrics for some of the songs, the band comes off as way too womanizing and arrogant. Then again it’s all part of the fun of being in a band thats continually getting more attention every year.

Now if you listen to the album long enough you’ll find that tracks do start sounding repetitive but what I find is that you just have to find something in each song to differentiate it from the last or at least within the vocals or guitar and you’ll remember that each song is unique in its own perspective ways.

I don’t know what it is about The Johnstones but I just love the harmonizing vocals between Jarek and Ryan. There’s just something about them that makes their two vocals work and there’s a perfect chemistry between them where if any other one of them left the band and was replaced by someone new, I just think the entire band would fall apart. There vocals intertwine and mix in such a fashion where they create a sound that’s nothing like anyone else and their voices just have this effect of putting a smile on your face no matter what.

The number of instruments used within the album is incredible, but then again when you’re a ska band, it’s bound to happen. It’s just amazing to hear all these instruments being played so well and working great on each track coming in as crisp and as clear as on the last. Each member of the band knows his instruments like the back of their hand and it shows throughout. Their last album which was also their first sounded a lot less professional in my opinion, but hearing SEX I’m comfortable enough to say that they have proven that they can improve and have practised and worked hard at bringing out this excellent piece of work. Hopefully they continue on with this and if they do I can see more great hit albums for them down the line.

Overall SEX is truly a great album which I wholly recommend to most everyone even if you’ve been under a rock the last couple years and haven’t heard an ounce of their music. For 5$ this album is truly a steal and hopefully they’ll have more great releases for us in the future.

8.5/10

Bring It Back Around by The Johnstones

Tonight by The Johnstones

Bank by The Johnstones

Tags: album