EP Review: No Parents – Middleground

No Parents unique press release read like a dysfunctional manifesto, it simultaneously told me everything and absolutely nothing about the band, my favourite statement from the No Parents manifesto, and the one that I think is most telling about what No Parents are about, is that they once spent an entire music video budget on margaritas, and who wouldn’t do that given the chance, although I personally wouldn’t do it at at TGIFridays. Now the LA quartet have released their latest EP “Middleground” that can now be streamed via your favourite digital service provider.

The title track opens the “Middleground” EP with a chugging riff and a hooky chorus that channels Weezer in their prime, if you thought you were ready to write No Parents off then the second track “Punisher” confounds your expectations with a hard hitting number that blends the harder edge of pop punk with an alt rock veneer, but crucially they maintain the charm that was present on the opening track. No Parents continues to shift the boundaries with a slice of pure dorky pop punk in the shape of “Sunday Brunch” before “Your Band” closes the EP, another socially awkward and near perfect pop punk song, one that Nerf Herder probably wish they had written.

No Parents have released an EP that is a million ways away from the the dirty garage punk of their debut album of “May The Thirst Be With You“, it’s not often you’ll hear me say this but taking the rough edges off their sound and delivering their slacker punk in a poppier style suits the “Middleground” EP perfectly rather than lo-fi scuzziness of the earlier releases. This is not a release with pretensions, this is the soundtrack to pizza, pool parties and live shows where the beer is cheap and the carpet is sticky, something you can experience for yourself as No Parents are currently on tour in the US with Plague Vendor.

The “Middleground” EP can be streamed via Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer here. No Parents can be found on Facebook here and you can view the video for the title track from the “Middleground” EP below.