Album Reviews

If your biggest influences as a band are Lawrence Arms and Jawbreaker, then I’m already rooting for you right from the start. Which is exactly what I’ve been doing for Minneapolis’ Banner Pilot since I first heard “Pass The Poison” back in 2006. The thing about these guys is that they seem to keep improving with every subsequent release. Which brings us to “Souvenir”, their fourth album and first since 2011’s “Heart Beats Pacific”. Is it good? Yeah! Is it really good? Fuck yeah!

Prior to the release they’ve said that they wanted to keep on sounding like themselves while evolving. Turns out that is exactly what they have done. Everything that you already liked about Banner Pilot, has been built upon and ended up sounding even better this time around. There is just something about the way these guys plow ahead over crunchy riffs while Nick Johnson is reminiscing about mistakes he has made in the past and will surely make again in the future, dreams that turned into nightmares and hopes that got shattered. You’re right there with them but instead of turning it into a sob-fest of epic proportions, you’re partying it up and singing along with the catchy as hell tracks. Here’s to more mistakes and more cruelly crushed dreams!