American Ink’s latest EP lures the listener in with impressive guitar work and genuine lyricism.
American Ink’s most recent EP, Up Next On… is raw and nostalgic, serving as a melancholic reminder of hazy, low-lit summers of youth gone by. The record’s catchy instrumentation, pop-punk charisma, and fast tempos accompany clever lyricism. The Bostonian band intertwines themes of heartbreak, frustrations, and self doubt, to create a brilliantly honest and smooth record.
The title track is a catchy, foot-tapping pop-punk song that tackles the narrator’s consuming struggles, fears, and anxieties as they strive to create art. The narrator tries to excuse the way they repeatedly express their self-doubt, “Not to freak out like every other night / But I’m scared alright? / The light that’s up ahead / Is just a trick inside my mind.” It’s a track that is startlingly relatable; “Up Next On…” is certainly a highlight on this EP. Its slick harmonizations are interwoven with earnest lyrics that build up to the song’s end, which packs the hardest punch. The track ends in a series of roaring guitar hooks that are strung together to chaotically wrap up the narrative, creating an appropriate ending for the song’s theme getting out of your own head.
“Mannequin,” the EP’s second track, chronicles the deterioration of a relationship. As both partners walk away, the narrator understands that the person he thought he knew and loved was just a “mannequin / a picture on the wall.” As the relationship fades, only now does the narrator realize that they loved the idea of someone, not the person themselves; “Mannequin” is a poignant reflection on memories and relationships that is sewn together with simple but meaningful lyrics. The track’s poppy, smooth rhythms and riffs echo the Enema of the State-era of Blink-182.
“Cloudwalker” is, sonically, one of the most striking tracks on the EP. It opens with a smooth, head-bobbing riff that explodes into lo-fi, ethereal instrumentation, creating a blissful yet hazy summer song. “Cloudwalker” feels like a spiritual sequel to “Up Next On…” Here, the narrator is now in an optimistic frame of mind, claiming that they’ve ran up and “kissed the sun” and are going to “redefine their own summer” by not tethering themselves to negativity and self-doubt. Here, the album’s theme changes: instead of beating themselves down, they’re now going to “plug in” and create the art that they know they’re capable of.
“Jim’s Song” and “Going Home” close out the EP with strong, catchy punk-infused vocals. “Jim’s Song” revisits the theme of a failed relationship. The track opens with an echoed conversation between potential lovers, layered over a building electric guitar riff that kicks off a narrative of something that could have been: “Where do you go / Once hell has froze? / I didn’t see this coming / I’d always dreamed / We’d mend the seam / That day we’d take off running.” The last track, “Going Home,” centers on the narrator’s self-doubt in relationships again, where he is blaming himself for his diminishing romance, “‘How could you do this to me’ / ‘How could you hurt me so bad’ / Honestly I don’t really care / I’m tired of holding you back.”
American Ink crafts a raw record brimming with impressive guitar work and vocals that conjure up a haunting sense of nostalgia and reliability. Up Next On… analyzes and reflects on self-doubt, while still encouraging the listener to keep their head up.