Written by Daniela Ruíz
Homesafe, the pop-punk band from Chicago, Illinois is back with their sophomore album, Nervous Reaction! It’s been three years since their last record “One”, but the band has hardly taken a break in that time.
Releasing several singles, the “What’s Mine Is Yours” EP and playing shows all over the country, tightening their sound and finding new bits and pieces to add along the way, creating something very interesting that shines all thought the album, without a dip in the whole project.
It manages to get pop-punk together with a touch of arena rock to give the project a massive sound with walls of guitars and the voice of lead vocalist Ryan Rumchaks cutting through the noise.
“Nervous Reaction”, the homonymous song of the record, introduces us right away to the enormous sound found by the band, blasting guitars right in your face. As the title may give away, it's a song about anxiety, not being sure about a situation, and reacting in the only way you want.
The repetition of the lines “Stop, we can’t stop, it's a nervous reaction” along with the constant, similar guitar strokes start digging in your head giving you a sense of agitation and desperation, perfectly getting the feel of the song through.
“Coming Clean” touches on talking to a friend of a loved one who you know it's keeping stuff in and letting them know that you are there for them, getting calmer with the rhythm, introducing a few acoustic guitars, very subtle strings, and sustained, reverberated vocals in the back of the bridges and the chorus gives the song a very sincere and personal tone.
“Fade Out” comes next, it talks about wanting to keep the moments with a special someone for as long as possible, more so when that person is struggling emotionally.
“Locked Up” returns with “Coming Clean”’s angsty rhythm to represent a remembrance of a controlling relationship, caused by a petition to come back, being another example of how good the band is at bringing feelings of desperation to the listener.
Then there's a shift in the record, we come from anxiety to a more rock, kick-ass tone on “Give it Away”, which feels like talking to someone in your life and trying to get them to just, for once, get loose and have fun for once, an unexpected change of tone but a welcomed one indeed.
In the next track we get another tonal shift, going back to a romantic song with the aptly titled “With You”, a song about ignoring what the world says and just centering in your other half and how everything shines when you are with them, changing the darker sound of the first half of the record with one that is more uplifting, full of energy and hope.
Lastly, we have “Old Soul” which starts quieter than the rest, with a base of acoustic guitar and bringing more electrics towards the verse. The way the song is structured gives it tones of nostalgia, of a long lost friend, and it happens to be the topic of the song. A conversation with someone who used to be close to you but turned their back on you, a sad, yet sweet note to end the record in.
“Nervous Reaction” isn’t just an album, it’s a journey. It may be almost half as long as their debut, but that doesn’t mean anything about its quality, it’s enough to present a very solid group of songs with varied sounds and feels.
They improved on the sound of “One” with a maturer, harder sound that gets right to where it needs to on the listener, a record that will stay in your mind for weeks as it’s filled with bangers front to back, a must for people eager for fast pop-punk with an emotional edge to bang their heads to.
“Nervous Reaction” is out now on all major platforms. You can follow Homesafe on Twitter @homesafeIL. Check it out and tell us what you think by. tweeting us @lgndsoftmrw!