Pop-punk, with its goofy songs full of knob and poo gags, in which women (girlfriends, mothers, etc) are mostly depicted as sources of irritation, has long been the genre of choice for a certain type of adolescent male. However, Philadelphia’s Modern Baseball head the field of newer bands trying to take it somewhere deeper. With guitarists Jake Ewald and Brendan Lukens splitting vocal duties, chugging guitars abound, but their third album addresses alternative young adulthood concerns including grief, depression and mental health.
Ewald’s conversational, candid storytelling has something of Bruce Springsteen or the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn about it. Lukens’s words are more personal and anguished, with his cries of “I’m a waste of time and space” on Just Another Face providing the album’s heartfelt standout. At only 28 minutes, there’s not a lot of Holy Ghost, but it’s never depressing or dull, and the tunes are sharply honed. Pop-punk may finally be (gulp) growing up.
