Review - The Summer Set - Everything's Fine

Now, I must say, when I listened to the new The Summer Set album, I had no intentions of reviewing it for the blog. While everybody loves their pop-punk, I am usually more of an electronic music type of gal, and The Summer Set doesn’t usually fit my bill. Not to say I don’t like them of course (which I suppose I do), but I just don’t think that enough of my readers would be fans, and I hate to say it, but I didn’t really expect a whole lot from the album.

Well, it only took my two songs, and I was already intrigued. I stopped what I was doing (yes, I listen to albums while I am doing other things and then still feel qualified to review them; sue me) and gave the rest of the album a chance. By the very next song, I knew that I had something special on my hands.

Everything’s Fine is, by far, The Summer Set’s best album to date (and that is saying something – the group put out their first EP in 2007, and this is already their 6th release!).

The album is poppy and fun, and has no problem being too sweet or too radio-friendly. Now, usually for a band that is classified as pop-punk (as they like to call themselves, but I gotta say, the pop heavily outweighs the punk), many of their fans would hate it if they put something out that was too radio friendly, but something tells me that the average Summer Set fan (probably a 9th grade girl wearing…well…a Summer Set t-shirt she just got at the mall last weekend) is going to be thrilled.

The shame about this whole thing is that The Summer Set sounds a whole lot like The Ready Set, who had a few moments of popularity a few months back with “Love Like Whoa”. With a sound so similar, and a name that would easily confuse even listeners paying attention, I don’t foresee Top 100-dom for any of the songs on which. It is a pity though, as it is clear that the band went out of their way and tried really hard to make an album that was as mainstream as it was true to their sound, and there really are quite a few great catches on this album.

Hey, there’s always Radio Disney I guess.

Listen to: “When We Were Young”, “Someone Like You”, and “Thick as Thieves”, but if you have the time, give the whole thing a shot.