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A Loss for Words - No Sanctuary

Rating

RIYL

Four Year Strong
The Story So Far
New Found Glory

Release Date

10/24/2011

Label

Rise Records

Tracklist

1. Honeymoon Eyes
2. Pray For Rain
3. Pirouette
4. Raining Excuses
5. The Hammers Fall
6. The Lost Cause I Used To Be
7. No Sanctuary
8. JMR
9. Jetsetter
10. Finite
11. Wrightsville Beach

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Recent Ratings
benny06	buck09
Zach Roth

A Loss for Words is one of those bands you just want to root for. Their workmanlike approach to pop-punk has earned them fans in many quarters, and though their sound to date could be construed as somewhat juvenile, their music has been fun and catchy, which brings us of course to the inevitable maturation record, No Sanctuary.

The rousing album opener “Honeymoon Eyes” maintains the relentless catchiness of previous outings and explores the familiar territory of relationships, but viewed through more adult eyes; and while A Loss for Words may previously have looked to the huge hook, the whole song coheres around the personal yet ubiquitous subject matter and consistency in songwriting. “Pray for Rain” follows, and to wit, also follows the same blueprint—the notable exception being that this song does bank on the big chorus to propel it to memorability, though the difference between then and now, so to speak, is that infectiousness here is wholly less saccharine.

So how’s growing up going for A Loss for Words? Musically, so far so good, though in their personal lives maybe a little more pot-holed—a place we’ve all been, making the subject matter that much easier to connect with. The third track, “Pirouette,” is solid, with a good chorus, and is succeeded by “Raining Excuses,” which inverts “Pirouette”’s formula, with the scaffolding around the chorus being what really ends up supporting it. The bridge and its embedded sing-a-long are reminiscent of Lower than Atlantis, high praise if there ever was such a thing. These two songs are much less seamless in their run-times, but do chart a sort of forward progress nonetheless.

“The Hammers Fall” is the next clear example of A Loss for Words’ new-found maturity, having slightly more of an edge than the preceding tracks, as well as a pounding back-beat that delivers it to the doorstep of the next few cuts: the hardcore-tinged title track, the New Found Glory-meets-Lucky Boys Confusion “JMR,” the string-backed ballad “Jetsetter.” “Jetsetter,” while not a great song in its own right, sets up the final two pieces of the record and casts them in such a light that they are able to carry No Sanctuary to its stirring, life-affirming conclusion, a move that may come off as too neat for some, but one that I would argue does all parties involved justice.

While A Loss for Words aren’t re-writing the book on pop punk, and there are bumps in their road to a more realized sound—with lapses into blandness in particular reason to give pause—I think the maturity on display here is impressive and points to a potentially bright future as long as they continue to explore and emphasize the aspects of their music that work best.