Punk rock finally smiled during the late '90s and into the millennium, thanks to the bands like
New Found Glory,
Sum 41, and countless other TRL mainstays. New Jersey's own
Saves the Day play with
post-punk stylings on their third album, Stay What You Are. More mature compared to 1999's Through Being Cool, Stay What You Are mixes emocore delight with
post-grunge snarl, and
Saves the Day's harmonies are jaunty and tight. But the album is also quite dark and grim; they stay close to the anger found in
punk in the first place. Album opener "At Your Funeral" pauses at the idea of death of a peer. Frontman
Chris Conley's boyish vocals project a façade of sweet, bouncy sounds, practically glossy and sheer. The bleak descriptions found on "Jukebox Breakdown" and "Nightingale" capture the grittiest three-chord riffs and
Saves the Day's highest artistic moment yet. They're bittersweet from love, and self-discovery is most pertinent. They want to avoid such loss, and "All I'm Losing Is Me" suggests that.
Saves the Day is conscious of what's affecting their generation, post Generation-X, and they're asking thousands of questions. Stay What You Are yearns to fight the compromise within social standards and complies with bit of self-indulgence. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
Jessica T. (