Single Review: Down Memory Lane – Release

Montreal’s Down Memory Lane  released their latest EP via Thousand Islands Records on the 16th November, which, as least as far a reviewer is concerned, is annoyingly called Release. The press release for the EP states that fans will definitely notice that there’s something different about this album, and they weren’t joking as unlike any other release I have encountered this, or any other year, on Bandcamp you are greeted by half a dozen recorded messages telling you that you cannot play the first half dozen songs on the album ‘for a secret reason’, which indicates that there is more to come from Down Memory Lane in the near future.

The six songs you do get on Release however are are an absolute blast, The Song About This Song starts with harmonic gang vocals before breaking out into some solid epifat influenced punk rock, My Last Dance keeps the beat alive before Xenophobic brings a harder approach that borders on melodic hardcore, a style that suits the song perfectly, and leads into By Leaps And Bounds as Release continues to build it’s momentum. Down Memory Lane continues to hit the mark with Miami with it’s timely refrain of ‘fragile minds in fragile times’ until we get to the final track, Catch And Release, a title that may or may not hint at the name for the second half of this release

Release is a melting pot of the harder edge of pop punk, the vocal style is reminiscent of Belgian punks FOD, this is matched with the hyperactive melodic punk of Lagwagon and No Use For A Name along with an ear for a catchy hook that is the hallmark of the very best pop punk bands. Down Memory Lane draw deep from the well of 90’s punk rock, and that’s no bad thing in my book as Release is an EP, or half an album depending on your point of view, that hits the spot nicely with half a dozen hits of melodic poppy punk rock that takes it’s cue from two decades ago, I can’t wait to hear what else is coming from the appropriately named Down Memory Lane

Release can be streamed and purchased via Bandcamp here