LONG ISLAND’S HALF DIZZY DAZZLE ON DEBUT ALBUM

ALBUM REVIEW | HALF DIZZY – YARD SALE by Craig Harston

Have you ever had one of those moments where you listen to a new album for the first time and just go “fuck, this is ace!”? ‘Yard Sale’ is one of those albums!

Hailing from Long Island, New York, Half Dizzy have been making waves within the NY punk rock scene for the past couple of years with their energetic live shows and brand of melodic, no frills punk rock. After releasing their fantastic debut EP ‘Courtesy Flush’ in 2022 (I was shocked to find that was now three years ago! But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, everyone needs ‘Surrogate’ on their playlists!), Half Dizzy are finally gracing the world with their debut full-length, ‘Yard Sale’, and it’s produced by none other than The Bouncing Souls bassist and punk rock royalty Pete Steinkopf.

‘Yard Sale’ is 14 tracks of pure unadulterated punk rock that runs the full gamut of the emotional spectrum with an ever-present vein of nostalgia throughout. The opening song and title track gets things off to a thunderous start with a very ‘Offspring-esque’ riff, lyrics about the state of the world and how it’s ‘our’ world to live in with some great gang vocals on the choruses. ‘King Of The Landfill’ and ‘Late Nights’ tackle similar subjects, the former a fun ska punk song all about appreciating what you’ve got, the latter a furious lamentation on what could have been if choices made earlier in life had been different, with vocalist Dizzy Doll screaming into the void as she dreams of another world.

‘All Or None’ is a very nostalgic melodic punk song that takes a different tack to ‘Late Nights’, reminiscing on the past and how it makes us who we are today, with an excellent breakdown and a fantastic bassline throughout. Half Dizzy get their pop punk on during ‘Fade Away’, plenty of woah’s as Dizzy laments a lost love (“The sun shone down me and I watch it fade away”), life-affirming pop punk party song ‘Turn It Up’ (great gang vocals on this one) and the wistful ‘Easton’, a catchy song where The Bouncing Souls’ influence is felt the most!

Half Dizzy wear their old school punk rock influences on their sleeves on ‘Darkest Days’, which has an early AFI edge to it, pissed off skacore song ‘Sidelines’ and the penultimate track, ‘Starting To Believe’, which riffs on the New York hardcore scene, with plenty of woah’s, relentless drums, gang vocals and beefy guitars on the bridge! Elsewhere, the melancholic ‘November 3rd‘ finds Dizzy harmonising alongside co-vocalist Daniel Marchelewski over co-existing in a relationship.

Unlike an actual yard sale where the best things would likely go first, Half Dizzy have saved one of the best albums of the year right until the very end of 2025! It’s catchy, fun and it makes you think! So say the band:

“Yard Sale has been a long time coming and we couldn’t be any prouder. Some of these songs were written years ago, some of them weren’t even finished when we stepped into the studio, but we had one goal and that was to write the best, most punk as fuck album we possibly could. It’s got heart and soul, it’s got sad songs, fight songs, party songs. This album is everything we want to stand for.” It’s a very strong debut for sure!

‘Yard Sale’ releases on 12th December via Punkerton Records and is available to pre-order here.