Signal the Escape – 1986

To be blunt, Signal The Escape is yet another Fall out Boy clone – a competent one, but a clone nonetheless.  They first formally entered the scene with 2007’s All That You Deserve, and fell in nicely with the power pop crowd.  Their newest release, a four track EP succinctly titled 1986, finds the band continuing their foray into the over trodden realm of forgettable power pop.  Don’t get me wrong, these boys know how to put together an energetic melody sure to get the kids moving, but there’s very much a “been there done this” feel looming over the whole outing. So while the hooks might be catchy, you’ve heard them all before.

The EP starts with “Wrapped Around Her Finger,” a track demonstrating their vocal heavy style through big yet unremarkable choruses.  Vocalist Tom Kavanagh feels like a capable but less expressive version of Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump.  Where Stump always extracts the most of each lyric, Kavanagh exercises a little more restraint, particularly in his quivering delivery.  While I’m not one to trumpet copycats, if you’re going to follow a sound to a tee then you might as well go all in – in other words, Kavanagh is competent where he needs to be remarkable.

Musically, guitarists Mike Hammel and Ivan Fiallos have the formula down.  One sets the foundation with the usual power chord suspects while the other chimes with a higher pitch for some rather tame solos.  It’s generally appealing, radio friendly, and fits the music – but again, doesn’t offer anything new.

Keeping with their predictable nature, every songs follows a very similar template.  They’ll start with some sort of semi-unique instrumental lead in, slightly alter the tempo when Kavanagh’s vocals begin, lead up to a chorus, repeat, and then finish off with a not so strategically placed bridge roughly three quarters in.   Who saw that coming?

Lyrically nothing really stands out either.  For a band in a genre dependent on memorable plays on words and puns for hooks, Signal The Escape really misses the mark.  All four tracks deal in some capacity with girls, affection, and for the most part describing why these girls are so infatuating.  Based on this content, in many cases they sound like a bland version of All American Rejects (really, think about that for a moment now…), or any generic Fearless Records power-pop act.

In the end 1986 feels lukewarm at best.  For all of the band’s youthful enthusiasm not a single track stands out in memory.  Their generic hooks and forgettable lyrics never overcome their predictable song structure.  While far from terrible, Signal The Escape fail at making a lasting impression amidst such an oversaturated market.