Daycare For Jedi - 'This Is What You Get'

There's plenty for a Pop Punk fan to explore here.

'This Is What You Get' is an upbeat, punchy debut album from a Danish quartet not afraid to stick with their sound and follows their successful EP 'Worst Things First'.

The album kicks off with the Funky title track, but immediately you feel it could do with a bit more bass to add some depth and bite. Nevertheless, the song-writing is tight and 'Change' moves the album on easily into 'Indifferent' which is faster, more fragmented and enjoyably electric in its very staccato nature. It's one of the few tracks that leans more towards Punk than Pop.

Overall, an Alternative Pop sound drives the album. It's quite light, easily thrown around and full of face-offs between patches of speed, single-note melodies and bigger, layered choruses. 'Moonshine' is the most predictable genre-wise. A bit more variety melody-wise wouldn't go amiss, but it's moody and with a blind, rushing release of frustration. 'A Better Way' and 'Brother' are heavier; the former is the same relentless, directionless melee, unpredictable yet a little wayward, while the latter is more emotive and closer to the Alternative Rock sound the band has mentioned in interviews. The shorter, snappier writing works well.



The latter half of the album gets a bit stale. 'Excuses' has a fun, chunky guitar riff, balancing out the sound better, but 'Loser' and 'Treading Water' feel wooden with no colour. 'Home' comes in well off the back of the latter, it's almost charming in its headlong boyish rush and the near-spoken melody feels innocent enough to be almost fun. Fortunately, it closes the album out more in tune to the better tracks on the album.

There's plenty for a Pop Punk fan to explore here. The sound gets a little old and the song-writing predictable, but 'Daycare For Jedi' (as their name sums up) carry it all off with an energy that is slightly roguish and all light-hearted.

Sophie Brownlee