Remo Drive – Natural Everyday Degradation

Bloomington, Minnesota alt-rock band Remo Drive has enjoyed a quick rise to fame upon signing with Epitaph Records for their sophomore effort, Natural Everyday Degradation.  Listening to their debut full length, Greatest Hits, makes clear that talent scouts heard something special and knew they had to join the family.  The band occupies a sort of mishmash of genres including emo, indie rock, power pop, and pop punk.  In recent years the band has veered from the simplistic pop-punk realm to more of an indie-emo hybrid, largely defining their present trajectory.

Natural Everyday Degradation is an easy and relatively smooth listen that should find an audience with indie fans that enjoy stumbling upon bands that draw loose inspiration from Modest Mouse and The Menzingers.  Vocalist Erik Paulson commands a tight vibrato that is paired with a mid-tempo setting alongside casual riffs and occasional keys as per “Shakin’” or “Dog.”  I use the word “casual” intentionally, as Natural Everyday Degradation moves at a reduced tempo.  Others like “Separate Beds” are slow burners that feel like loose cousins to more pensive tracks by The Killers.  Meanwhile, “Ezra and Marla” definitely draws upon some emo-licks that pulls the listener into an emotional lyrical web.  There are also interesting stylistic infusions, such as the commanding bass work that elevates “The Devil” to memory, but by and large Remo Drive seems to have shed much of the pop-punk underlays of prior efforts.  This isn’t a negative, provided you don’t enter Natural Everyday Degradation assuming that the album will serve as Greatest Hits Vol. 2. 

Natural Everyday Degradation is a fine example of well-produced alt-rock and indie born from a foundation of  pop-punk sensibilities.  The only thing the album is really missing is a little spontaneity here and there.  It’s a bit of a situation in which the album’s continuity also leads to some repetition that could use a little shakeup by album’s end. But all in all, Remo Drive’s transition to Epitaph Records mirrors that of label mates The Sidekicks or Title Fight in that they have used their boost in resources to explore a side of them that’s always been present, but has never been given the spotlight – until now.