The Thermals - Now We Can See

The most recent release from Portland's Thermals isn't due out for a few days, but thanks to WTUL I've been rocking out to it all week. In the wake of a split with Sub Pop and subsequent signing to Kill Rock Stars, the Thermals hit pop punk gold (well... maybe silver) with their fourth LP.

Recording as a two-piece with bassist Kathy Foster adding drums, the band puts together a pretty full sound. The album opens with the blistering "When I Died", a rocking, catchy, and instantly likable song about -- best I can tell -- wanting to become a fish. The album keeps up the high energy from there. All songs feature fuzzed out pounded power chords and Hutch Harris' intelligent if not notably profound lyrics. Great pop hooks abound and, with the exception of slow-building centerpiece "At the Bottom of the Sea", all songs hit hard from the start. The album closes on a high point, with the one-two punch of "How We Fade" and the brilliant "You Dissolve". The latter augments the band's standard guitar/drums/bass routine with mashed piano chords that knock the already incendiary chorus into a level reached nowhere else on the album. The song is Now We Can See's finest moment and I wouldn't be surprised to see it on several end of the year top songs lists (including my own).

The album is appropriately short at just 34 minutes. The band was wise to put some of the best songs toward the end, because by midway through you're starting to tire of the album's formula. I don't mean this in a purely negative way because, despite being predictable, the songs are almost all very enjoyable. You can call these guys one-trick ponies but you can't deny the fact that they're pretty damn good at that trick.

Overall the album is a very entertaining listen, and I'd recommend it to all fans of mildly punky pop or the band's Sub Pop (ex)brethren.