New Found Glory – ‘Listen Up!’

In a world full of uncertainty, a new record from pop punk staples New Found Glory feels like a comfort. Thoughts of nostalgia, friendship and living the good life make for a warm album focusing on the simple pleasures in life, and considering ‘Listen Up!’ was recorded while guitarist Chad Gilbert was between hospital visits for a myriad of serious health problems, we’re gifted an album that we can throw ourselves into with the same gusto that he evidently did. There’s no songs which are especially challenging on New Found Glory’s eleventh outing, but that’s a good thing: they’ve stuck to their classic riff-heavy sound which has yet to steer them wrong.

Every single feels like a hug from a smiling stranger in the pit. “My word is cement, I’m gonna give you one hundred percent,” promises vocalist Jordan Pundik, and we believe him on the old school banger ‘100%’. ‘Laugh It Off’ is all choppy riffs and remembrances of making up after fights with friends, and ‘Treat Yourself’ boasts a killer intro, an Offspring-style beat and a broad streak of self love. The millennial skate kid anthem that is ‘Beer and Blood Stains’ is bound to open up a heck of a pit, assuming our lower backs can take the jumping, but who cares when the guitar’s as strong as the sentiment?

The real depth comes from the album tracks. “You’re just a soundtrack making money off their sadness,” Pundik swipes at low-tier bands on ‘Boom Roasted’, and while the anti-emo sentiment feels a little bit 2008, he’s got a point. Dwelling on sadness was never New Found Glory’s style and even at times of adversity, they’d rather focus on the positives. Even ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’, a song that lyrically focuses on Gilbert’s recovery from cancer, burns away the fear in favour of power pop punk and guitar-driven strength. In fact, ‘Dream Born Again’ sums up the whole state of affairs for New Found Glory as they stand right now: hopeful, on form, and smiling in the face of negativity. There’s something truly admirable about creating an album that’s full of sunshine, equal parts throwback and update, that stands strong as an important chapter in the unfolding New Found Glory story. As they remind us on ‘You Got This’, we’re capable of rising above our troubles, and they’re a band able to drop an album of straight up self-belief distilled into classic pop-punk.

We all know what New Found Glory sound like, and ‘Listen Up!’ won’t be the record that changes your perception of them. However, this is a solid slice of pop-punk from a band who’ve made their name from serving up refreshing, fun tunes, and they aren’t about to stop now. New Found Glory continue to be a safe bet, an island of consistency in the rapids of the scene, and that’s been their massive strength since day one. Listen up, and drift away with an album that bounces through the past and present with joy and verve.

Kate Allvey