Punchline - Delightfully Pleased review

Punchline's newest full-length studio album, Delightfully Pleased, came out last Tuesday, August 10.  We played the whole thing from front to back on Wednesday's show, and I review the album below.  I loved it, and while it's still not my favorite Punchline album, it's definitely a solid release with catchy songs.

Click past the break for the full review.

Punchline has been a favorite of mine for many years.  I'll admit, not as long as they have been around, but I remember hearing them online and heading to Graywhale to pick up their release, The Rewind EP.

The Rewind EP

And I loved it.  It was such a simple record, with only four songs.  But it packed a power pop punk punch that I'd never forget.  And I still hear every single song like it's for the first time.

They followed up with the full-lengths Action and 37 Everywhere, which remains to this day my favorite release of theirs.

With 2008's Just Say Yes, I have to admit that I was disappointed.  I didn't get Punchline from that album.  I felt like they had ditched a lot of the harmonies and the call and response phrases that defined their earlier work.  It was a letdown, from one of my favorite bands.

That all changed this past Tuesday when I picked up their newest release, Delightfully Pleased.  Punchline's third release on their own record label, Modern Short Stories, Delightfully Pleased is everything I expect from the Pennsylvania four-piece.

Delightfully Pleased album cover

Opening with the "we love to be a band" staple that many indie bands have adopted as of late, "Seventy" addresses what you'll hear on the album and how they feel about music.  The first verse welcomes the listener, saying:

You won't find songs of hopelessness on this record,
You won't find songs that leave you feeling lost
Just press play and feel your problems melt away
What else should the music do in you?

While most songs of the type seem to bother me ("Given the Chance" by The Starting Line and Paramore's recent "Looking Up" come to mind), I feel like Punchline infused just enough of their own spunk into "Seventy" to make it uplifting and optimistic without coming off as annoying or self-indulgent.

The album ebbs and flows from that point on.  It feels very cohesive and progresses quickly, with every song oozing that Punchline goodness that we have all come to expect and love.

And how thrilled was I when in the conclusion of the song "Roller Coaster Smoke" they repeat lyrics from the track "Rewind" off of the one and only Rewind EP.  Punchline does it again in the final track, "A Universal Theme", when they echo back to "Seventy".

While the call and response is still all but obliterated, and the harmonies still aren't exactly what they were eight years ago, Delightfully Pleased stands with other Punchline albums as a testament to punchy positivity at its best.  Everyone support this dedicated and talented band.