Lost From The Start - 'Few And Far Between' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. This Is Getting Out Of Hand

2. How Things Turned Out

3. Out Of Left Field

4. Sore Throat Weak Knees

5. April Showers Bring May Flowers

6. Castles

7. Monitor The World

8. Off the Hook

9. Cold Shoulder

10. Just Another Con Artist

Lost From The Start, a nostalgic Pop Punk outfit from Belgian state from the outset that they’re bringing a modern and unique perspective on the styles they grew up with.

From listening to “Few And Far Between” I can confirm that Lost From The Start are taking the millennial craze for wistfully looking to their childhoods to heart and reminding us all how awesome Pop Punk was in the late 90s and early 2000s.

The album from start to finish is an onslaught of fun and catchy choruses - reminding Pop Punk as a genre that it wasn’t always about breakdowns and gang vocals, but was a genre once dominated by overdrive chords, stacked harmonies, and a melody line you could belt along and dance to at the same time.

There are a few moments throughout “Few And Far Between” where I’m reminded of some classics. The track “How Things Turned Out” has the gift of a second vocalist acting as a sort of call and response between the lead, and due to the sheer differences in their vocals I’m reminded of many old blink-182 songs in a comforting way, due to the similar balancing act they play. “April Showers May Bring Flowers” has moments in it’s solo and towards the end that are very reminiscent of the Jimmy Eat World ballad “23”, and there are other recognisable nods sprinkled throughout the record.

But do not be mistaken, LFTS are not just focusing on the past. There is a great mixture of new modern Pop Punk techniques, classic comfortable staples, and a unique spice to the record as a whole that I imagine is theirs and theirs alone.

The guitar work is very playful, never too ostentatious but definitely more ambitious than a lot of the old school famous Pop Punk bands would have ever ventured with, similarly with the drum work which has moments of harder hits and more intricate fills than you would expect.

All of this works beautifully with the wonderful main vocal. I am personally a big advocate for more female singers in Punk, and I am very happy to stumble onto someone who doesn’t sound like a Hayley Williams clone. There’s a depth and strength to her vocal that I have not seen much of in the genre, almost reminiscent of Agent M from Tsunami Bomb, although more refined and less concerned with grit, making for an enjoyable journey throughout.

There are some issues with the release - basically every song is a catchy chorus huge ‘single’ style song which is great but it does leave a bit of listener ‘fatigue’ due to the persistant hooks - the “ballads” on the record still have this mentality as well, leaving the record little room to breathe or reflect and unfortunately means the songs start to get a little “samey” over time. There is also some flirtations with synth which work great in some tracks but are just a bit overbearing in others like “Monitor The World”.

Overall I give this release a 3 out of 5.