The good part is that the songs are simple and effective. There's no jazz influence shoe-horned in, no extraneous time signatures, no bullshit. In their absence, the tracks' lightweight, pop-punk-meets-the-60's style is allowed full reign, with simple consonant melodies augmented mainly by a few vibrant basslines and standard guitar/drums support.
The bad part is listening to the vocals devolve throughout the record, from an understated airy delivery on the first few tracks to a distracting sort of forced tremolo by the end. Consider the Violent-Femmes-esque track Every Night Every Day, where singer Caterina Schemidt barely lands the notes before dropping out, shaking her voice in a way that could be deemed 'stylistic' but that I'd call annoying. Beyond that, some of the drum parts are a bit timid, with the kick not laying down the sort of rock-steady groove that the music deserves.
Which leads us to the ugly. Which is that, frankly, pop-punk is not a new thing, and the songs on this new release are not redefining the genre. What The Sheens have delievered with [record name] is a good start, a decent take on a fun genre that's unlikely to draw much ire. At the same time, it's not awe-inspiring by any means - and in today's world, that's what it takes.
