Isle of View
Gentle Firefly Radio
Baltimore, Maryland
www.undecidedrecords.com/index.php?id=releases&rid=43
If you are not singing along with these incredibly catchy lyrics after your first listen-through, you will be after the second. Every song on this record is a hit, and each song outdoes the next. Hailing from Baltimore, they carry the stereotypical “Mid Atlantic Punk Rock” feel, however, Isle Of View has one advantage: a record deal. These guys are already making headway, besides the fact that every one of their songs on their debut album Gentle Firefly Radio can be considered a single. It has melodic guitar solos that not only rock the house down, but work extremely well as a third and sometimes even fourth part harmony. They certainly write songs for an all ages group, despite lyrics about crashing down drug induced highs on “Fall Asleep And Die” and unsatisfying sex on “Ransom”, they still manage to have extremely clever hooks and a singer whose voice is amazing. Especially with “Angel Wings” they have clapping down that is sure to make many housewives shake their Polaroid pictures to the fine angelic harmonies that these boys nail. “Tears and tears for you I cry/All the way across the sky/Take away your wings and fly/Into my heart forever” is the hook you wish you wrote, as you clap along to a 60s style pop-punk radio gem. Someone in this band definitely studied up on how to record the most full bodied, layer-intensive punk rock CD in the world. Some audio programs allow up to 32 different tracks to be recorded upon, and I wouldn’t hesitate for a second that not one of these tracks is empty on any song off Gentle Firefly Radio. “Tombstone” probably has the best lyrical story out of all the tracks, albeit depressing, it paints a picture that can certainly turn into a beautiful music video, if ever produced. Lyrics “I’m burying the person I thought I knew/You’re dead to me but I will keep your memory/My name is written on your tombstone” ring deep, but regardless, you will be singing along. Just when your heart is racing for more and the songs were loading up with cheesy lyrics, Gentle Firefly Radio ends softly with a gorgeous, harmonic, melodic, acoustic ballad “Driving On Train Tracks.” It is a completely unexpected ending given the first ten tracks, but a very satisfying end to a sugary sweet, intense power-punk, well-produced record. Isle Of View definitely stretches the limits of what a “typical” punk rock band should sound like. Between their constant harmonies on almost all their tracks, crunchy guitars, layers upon layers of instruments, I can definitely say I love you, Isle Of View.
