Labels: Topshelf Records
Review by: MH
New material here from South Jersey’s By Surprise. Catchy, mid-paced indie rock with nods to the likes of The Promise Ring and The Get Up Kids and plenty of pick-sliding. There are three fine tunes here and the lead track “Criteria”, in particular, is a bit of a corker – catchy, melodic, laidback and quite the pop song. “Wear That Crown” is similarly catchy while the last song is a little more quirky and melodic – it goes more into collegey indie rock territory. I like the way in which By Surprise keep things simple and whereas I found the last album to be a little patchy, this is much tighter and more concise. Decent – a full-length of this quality would be super.