ALBUM REVIEW | Chief State – Keep Your Friends Closer
Chief State: Vancouver Pop Punks Keep The Momentum On Album Number Two
4 stars
It’s been four years since Vancouver’s Chief State dropped their debut full-length, 2022’s ‘Waiting For Your Colours’. In the interim, the self-proclaimed ‘rain drenched’ pop punk band have had a bit of a revolving door with their members but have now solidified their line-up, alongside band mainstays Fraser Simpson (vocals) and Joe Soderholm (guitar/vocals) – and are finally back to signal the start of summer with their sophomore effort, ‘Keep Your Friends Closer’.
As with their debut, ‘Keep Your Friends Closer’ is another batch of summery emo pop punk songs that have their hearts firmly on their sleeves, documenting the trials and tribulations of navigating the modern world. Throughout ‘Keep Your Friends Closer’, there’s a theme of introspection and hopes of bettering ourselves, for ourselves and for those around us. This is most prevalent on the likes of ‘Loser’, a catchy pop rock song with a relentless riff throughout and self-deprecating, ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ lyrics (this one sticks with you so much, I’m surprised this wasn’t one of singles released ahead of the albums), most recent single ‘Damn!’, with its focus on saying the wrong thing and not being able to take it back (we’ve all been there!) and emo-tinged hooks and the melodic and catchy ‘Metaphors’, all about the struggle to be your true self.
Elsewhere, ‘No Brakes’ is an urgent and summery kick off to the album, about the frustrations of nothing going right all at the same time, ‘Resonate’ is a hard-hitting, spiky riffed, song about the difficulties in moving past the point of no return in a relationship which goes huge on its choruses (“So tell me how did we get here, no I don’t think we’ll get through this, I’m too immature and foolish, to know what’s best”), ‘Over It’ deals with how many us often have people in our lives who make false promises, leading to us not having the help we need when we need it most – it’s got some great dual vocals and is fairly introspective, though goes heavy in its closing moments! Chief State stick with the heavy-ness at the halfway point of the album on the melodic and abrasive ‘Can’t Let Go’ and the hardcore-riffing ‘Paranoia’, which features Comeback Kid’s Stu Ross closing out the song on the vocals!
While there is no filler here, two songs are clear stand-outs and are destined to become future pop punk classics. ‘April Showers’ has everything that makes up a great pop punk song – it thunders along with a great easycore sound, it’s catchy, has some great lyrics about the weight of expectation in a relationship (“I gave you everything I’ve got nothing left, Always taken for granted so I′m stuck here feeling bereft”) and has plenty of gang vocals on the choruses – and let’s face it, the title is very apt for the albums April release! The title track and album closer, ‘Keep Your Friends Closer’, reflects on how hard it is to maintain friendships as you get older. It’s got summery pop punk vibes and packs a punch with it’s hard hitting lyrics (“I spent the summer trying to make amends, with the people that I used call my friends”).
Chief State have put together a great sophomore album, one that will stick with you long after your first listen – it perfectly balances it’s angsty themes with a feeling hope.
‘Keep Your Friends Closer’ releases on 17th April via Mutant League Records.
