ROMP – ‘Departures From Venus’

Did you ever think the day would come when we would be mentioning Tinder in an album review? Neither did we. Well, it would appear that the backbone of New Jersey’s ROMP met on the mobile dating app, and instead of finding love, found something else: a musical pairing. The art of “swiping right” brought Madison Klarer and Lucas Dalakian together in 2014, and with the band rounded out by Chris Beninato, their match has led to the creation of their debut full-length ‘Departures From Venus’.

Across the album’s nine tracks, ROMP flaunt punk rhythms and pop melodies, but it’s not pop-punk in the conventional sense of the term. There are moments of disjointed college rock next to self-assured riot grrrl angst, before switching to saccharine pop glory at each turn. It’s sweet and sour at the same time, with Klarer’s imperfect vocal range echoing the heartbreak and bitterness that is buried in the album’s lyrical narrative.

The jagged production of ‘Departures From Venus’ makes the raucous stomp of ‘Backfire’, and ‘Last Year’ sound urgent rather than slick and concise. They utilise simple yet effective chord progressions, inviting you into each track. When Klarer hits a higher register her voice almost reaches breaking point, similar to that of Reba Myers from Adventures. When she soars over bright keyboard leads on ‘Come Undone’ she reaches her peak, dropping down to a more reserved tone on the self-examining ‘Avoiding Boys’.

When ROMP show off their punk roots on the furious ‘Get Off The Scale’, Klarer sounds more confident than ever, clearly channelling Kathleen Hanna. For an album that bounces off all manner of punk rock sub-genres it remains cohesive, right through to the lovelorn anthem ‘Yapshutter’. While the album is cloaked in melody, Klarer lyrically bares her soul throughout ‘Departures From Venus’, leaving nothing to the imagination. She’s angry and bitter, and wants each listener to know that.

This isn’t a stadium-sized album and isn’t scrappy enough to be a straightforward punk album. ROMP have just found a sound somewhere between pop-rock and pop-punk, and traded cliché for honesty. While many of us will surely curse the name of Tinder thanks to bad dating experiences, we can thank it for being the spark that lit the flame of ROMP. Without it we may not have had an album as charming as ‘Departures From Venus.’

GLEN BUSHELL