Album Reviews
NJ punk legends The Bouncing Souls are back with ‘Ten Stories High,’ their first new album in seven years and their 11th full-length overall. Produced by Will Yip ((The Menzingers, Title Fight, Tigers Jaw)), the album comes with - as the album title suggests - ten new songs that include previously released singles ‘Ten Stories High’ and ‘Higher Ground’ and ‘Shannon’s Song’. All three of which have vintage Bouncing Souls written all over them. Think big choruses and even bigger feelings.
Pretty much the only thing that’s different this time around is where the band looked for inspiration. With normal life grinding to a halt during the pandemic, the Souls started using the Patreon platform. In addition to a weekly podcast and other content, the group offered a special tier where fans could have a custom song written for them. They’d do a 30-40 minute Zoom call with the person to try and get to know them and then something would usually pop out that they could focus on in the song. With inspiration being handed to them, they quickly had enough material for another solid addition to their already impressive back catalog.
The album kicks off with the title track, written by Pete Steinkopf, which kind of encapsulates the entire project. ‘Back To Better’ and ‘Another Day In Denver’ are two more tracks that harbor the classic Souls sound. And the hits keep on coming with ‘True Believer Radio’, ‘Magnus Air Organ’ and the moving ‘Vin And Casey,’ feturing 7 Seconds’ Kevin Seconds on guest vocals.
‘Ten Stories High’ finds the Bouncing Souls doing what they do best: drawing from stories of life’s ups and downs and turning them into highly singalong-able punk rock anthems. It’s a formula that has worked for them for over 30 years now and if anything, the band’s new album shows they still aren’t quite done.
Ten Stories High track list:
- Ten Stories High
- Back To Better
- Another Day In Denver
- True Believer Radio
- Shannon's Song
- Andy and Jackie
- Vin and Casey
- Magnus Air Organ
- To Be Human
- Higher Ground
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
