After a year of virtual silence in 2019, All Time Low have kept their 3rd April release date for their new album Wake Up, Sunshine amid the world lockdown. The rationale was to put smiles on faces during a hard time and, come Friday, that will happen.
Opening with lead single Some Kind of Disaster, the old and new sonic landscapes of the band's catalogue meet. A poppy vocal opens through the first chorus and verse to progress to a soaring chorus remeniscent of their 00s classics. Similarly, Getaway Green brings a real feel of 2011's Dirty Work with real grooves in the intermittent riffs through the verses conversing with the consistent drumbeat.
Elsewhere, fans of Last Young Renegades will have something to hold on the album too: Monsters (feat. blackbear) has a real flavour of the rapper's influence by following a rap/chorus dialogue, and following track Pretty Venom has a laid back feel with huge layered vocals and a pad drum sound destined to be used in a stripped-back section of the live set.
The album does not just charter the old and older sounds of All Time Low - Favourite Place (feat. The Band Camino) and Safe bring an indie pop feel with big choruses that would fit in with anything from Lower Than Atlantis to P!nk in playlists.
Vocally, Alex Gaskarth has a shining role through the whole album. Huge highs in a lot of choruses and delicate mellow tones in the quieter portions will provide a very familiar connection with every song on the record from a first listen. Backing vocals are layered through almost every track as has become customary to the quartet, filling the space with rich harmony.
Wake Up, Sunshine is being released at exactly the right time for a lot of people struggling at the moment, and the duty now placed upon it will not be wasted. This record is a collection of huge songs to play live with a retrospective nod to their career so far - some of their strongest songs since Don't Panic! are yet to enter the world imminently, and that is not a comparison to be used lightly by Roadie Live!