Fake Problems Keep It Real For The Punks
In their third studio album release on LA label SideOneDummy, Real Ghosts Caught On Tape, Florida-based folk punkers Fake Problems create something that is quite real for their listeners: songs for teenagers, anthems of growing up and learning to smile, and an undercurrent of uncertainty that is somehow comforting.
In "Songs For Teenagers," lead singer Chris Farren sings, "The first time I felt like I was gonna die/but I've got pretty good at telling myself it's fine." Citing Blink-182 and similar artists as an influence, the band combines the candor of pop-punk with a more musically diverse approach that is equal parts Modest Mouse and emo vets Saves The Day.
In "Soulless," they kick it up a notch with a jangly, uptempo ode to finding your way despite feeling alone and, well, soulless.
"Complaint Dept" is a social statement on human nature with surprisingly poetic lyrics: "Take a picture/ I won't last much longer/ I am turning into dust."
The spacey, whimsical final track on the album, "Ghost To Coast," revisits the theme of ghosts in one's life and the things we all dream of when we lie awake at night. The chorus unfolds over a sparse and pretty guitar-driven landscape: "You can't force feeling and you can't conjure up meaning/ without perhaps believing that you're good enough."
Slightly different from the rough-around-the-edges punk that many of their label mates boast as a signature sound, Fake Problems have outlasted the millennial emo/pop-punk boom in a fresh and inventive way that breathes new life into punk rock.
