Emerging from the seemingly-relentless release schedule of Pure Noise Records, ‘Distant Like You Asked’ is the début album by Toronto’s Like Pacific. If the label’s musical identity is a spectrum running from State Champs, whose pure-pop approach is charming in its total disregard for indie credibility, to the oesophagus-grating hardcore of bands like Landscapes and Knocked Loose, then Like Pacific sit dead-centre.
As Aneurin Bevan famously said, though, “We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down.” And the traffic round these parts is very busy: Brigades, Boston Manor, Seaway and, most pertinently, Knuckle Puck and The Wonder Years all ply a comparable brand of earnest, heartfelt pop-punk given some bite by a rough-around-the-edges production. While ‘Distant Like You Asked’ holds its own among such company, it fails to do much more.
Which is a shame, as the start of the record suggests a band capable of racing ahead of the pack. It has its highlights – title track ‘Distant’, for example, is about as good a pop-punk single you’ll hear this side of a Wonder Years album – and there’s a sense of musical ambition throughout, with the particularly creative drumming standing out ahead of many of their contemporaries. But not far enough.
The bar was raised considerably last year by Knuckle Puck’s ‘Copacetic’ and TWY’s ‘No Closer To Heaven’, and while this record is worth a listen to fans of the aforementioned bands, it’s in nothing like the same league. Particularly given Jordan Black’s wall-to-wall whinging, “Why won’t you fancy me back” lyrical content which, while sure to go down well when superimposed on a Tumblr GIF, only adds to the distinct sense of déjà entendu. Like Pacific are far from the worst example of the genre, but the disparity between the best and worst material here means there’s a distinct sense of an opportunity missed.
ROB BARBOUR