Breaklights – Wind Down | Album Review

Track List

Dream On
When You Talk
Fool Me Once
Parolees
Aging Well
Crushed
Smile Lines
Illinois
Sixty Five
Fairview 1991

There are Green Day vibes of old here and Austin band Breaklights epitomise the days when old flames come and go, when the last of the wine has been drunk and when sorrow weighs heavy on scrawny shoulders. The stories are real, they’re meaningful and give the listener a portal into an unconventional atmosphere, where hope hangs in the balance and where people seem like vultures lapping up every last piece of love.

The music is thrilling and deeply telling. Those sharp guitar lines wrap around the words that exemplify broken trust, and this insincere world. Consequences are explored, and this band isn’t throwing down these vivid lyrics for the sake of it. They’re actually penning them to tell us that they’re broken-hearted. Wind Down is their collection of songs which are more than complex, and punk doesn’t usually have so much intricacy but this record has that in droves.

Intelligent song-writing is needed more than ever. Punk music doesn’t always have this conviction and sophistication, it doesn’t always showcase ingenuity well, but Breaklights, as a collective, show that they’re not unequipped. And there are moments when the songs batter off into varied sequences, and then we get the acoustic charms to cool down the raging heat.

‘Dream On’ starts the record off in a loud fashion. The Green Day vibes power through with those easy on the ear riffs commanding the room. That chorus marks brilliance. ‘Fool Me Once’ is a nod to the simplicity of punk, and that heaped on chorus doesn’t kill the atmosphere but augments it. Dookie comes to mind here, an opus that changed the landscape of mainstream punk rock.

‘Crushed’ opens with a breakneck riff, and the lyrics tell tales of disdain. Love has become such a burden. ‘Sixty-Five’ is fast and volatile, and the band is searching for solace in the part of town where old foes reside.

Breaklights conquer here. Their sound goes beyond the normal 3 chord sound, and their lyrical astuteness will only gain them plaudits.

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