With
Keystone
, prolific young punkers
Digger
certainly aren't trying to reinvent the wheel; rather, they're warming over a well-traveled
punk-pop
terrain. The thick, clotted guitars and
bubblegum
smarts throughout often bring to mind their elder labelmates,
the Queers
, while the quick-stop dynamics, escalating guitar lines, and earnest sentiments of
"Stars Over Boulder"
evoke
Jimmy Eat World
. And there is certainly a host of points of reference to
Blink-182
, including the adolescent vocal approach and rich guitars of
"Try and Catch Me"
or the brokenhearted skate-kid sentiments of
"Tattoo Broken Hearts."
What separates these Pennsylvanians from the pack, however (and they sure sound like a SoCal band), is that they happen to be really good at aping successful
gestures of yore -- and they've written a batch of fine originals to back up those dynamics that shows a real melodic, hooky touch. Once one gets past train-spotting the various groups who sound like this, the album is a lot of fun. ~ Erik Hage