Thin Lips – Riff Hard

Thin Lips are a discordant, yet somehow melodic, trio from Philadelphia. The band are comprised of members of previous local heroes Dangerous Ponies and Superweak, so they evidently have the potential to be a Pennsylvanian thoroughbred. Riff Hard is their debut full length, which is the follow up to 2015’s Divorce Year EP. 

The majority of the album charges along with a admirable sense of urgency and immediacy and there is clearly dedication and originality in abundance on this release, you get the feeling they haven’t compromised in the slightest in the making of Riff Hard. The fact that the album’s name is taken from singer and guitarist Chrissy Tashjian’s knuckle tattoos, as pictured on the sleeve, tells you a lot about the authenticity and attitude of the band.

The production on Riff Hard has the feel of a live recording, there definitely haven’t been any excessive studio flourishes applied to take the rough edges off Thin Lips, and for me it’s all the better for it. This is unadorned frantic punk rock and the pace only lets up twice, midway through on the track What’s Wrong and for the closer Breaking Up and Breaking Down. For me the two slower tracks don’t quite work with the overall feel of the album, that’s not to say they’re bad songs, but they just don’t seem to sit comfortably alongside the strident brash melodies of the other eight cuts.

For those of you in the USA, you’ll be able to check out Thin Lips on tour when they head out with Joyce Manor and Modern Baseball on the latters Holy Ghost tour, sadly for those of us located elsewhere we’ll just have to hope that Thin Lips travel to our shores one day. The new album is due to drop on May 20th through Lame-O Records and the limited edition vinyl can be ordered here.