I have a friend who is an 80’s devotee and I couldn’t help but
\nthink of him as I scorched my way through this disc from Pen Pal.
\nEven if you tend to dismiss the 80’s as the decade of heavy metal,
\nhairspray and synthesizers, you’re still left with a majority of
\nsongs that are happy, be-boppy or, if nothing else, devoid of the
\nangst that has characterized the alternative movement of the
\n1990’s. So when Pen Pal reached to me, it was like something I had
\nheard about ten years ago. Although the band tiptoes its way around
\ncliches like negotiating a minefield, the band is successful.<\/p>\n
The first thing you will probably notice about this CD is there
\nare no lyrics like “The world sucks\/ so blow up the outside world.”
\nIn fact, guitarist\/lyricist\/brainchild of Pen Pal. David Greenberg
\nis so happy-go-lucky on the surface, you might puke. In the
\nhypnotizing opening track, “Et Cetera,” he’s basically dismissing a
\npast relationship that didn’t go as planned. Seeing things through
\nrose colored glasses seems to be Pen Pal’s approach to life.<\/p>\n
And it’s a philosophy that carries itself through the entire CD.
\nBringing out the synthesizer in “Dumb” brings back images of any
\nnumber of 80’s bands like O.M.D. or Depeche Mode. And then, adding
\nthe lyrics, “I want to be dumb\/ It’s so hard to get so smart\/ And
\nstill be happy\/ I want to be dumb” definitely echoes the buoyancy
\nof the 80’s.<\/p>\n
So, in general, this is peppy, high-spirited music. Pen Pal may
\nbe able to find their niche in the national music scene as the
\ncounter-angst music movement continues to develop and as the
\nrebirth of 80’s acts like the recent New Edition reunion continue
\nto compete with modern acts for attention. For those sick of “I
\nhate my life” songs, switch to Pen Pal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":27802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7488],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-39185","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pen-pal","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39185"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}