Pentimento
Self-titled
A new wave of punk is washing over the youth of that scene, and Pentimento is posed to be near its peak.
Pentimento is a four-piece band out of New York that, along with bands like Real Friends and Such Gold, are among the latest in another spate, newly-hyped punk/pop punk band. One comes around every few years, quality and continued success always varying.
Despite trouble with its old record label, Pentimento was able to get its self-titled debut full length album at the end of last year to rave reviews from the small circles that took it up.
The main strike against Pentimento when listening to the album is that there is simplicity of instrumentation and a similarity to genre-mates that can be more than a little tiring. A riff here or there would be immensely effective and cathartic–an attention-seizing curveball in just the right way.
What the band does do, it does well, and what curveballs the album does have are excellent. The emotional crescendos are consistently effective. The songs are dynamic, with some surprisingly seamless effects added (see the strings in “Subtle Words”). The band’s heart-on-sleeve emotion, a pop/punk staple, is convincing rather than trite, and the maturity, too often lacking amongst similar bands, is a breath of fresh air.
Album centerpiece “The Bridge (Acoustic)” is a major reason this album is a little more special than other first punk/pop full lengths. This stripped down, perfectly structured emotional sledgehammer shows a talent for more than just quick-tempo jams, something more powerful and subtle.
While I wouldn’t call the album “a breath of fresh air,” it’s certainly a high quality album in its scene, one abounding with promise and worthy of the free download. The future certainly looks bright for this more open and thoughtful band.