REVIEW: Noogie, Learn to Swim (Trauma)
- Joann D. Ball
It's a band from Australia. The band members are cute teenage guys, all high school mates, who have a punk influence and love guitars. They are energetic, have a catchy sound and wanna break America. Sounds like... Noogie.
On the debut release Learn to Swim, Noogie favors a power pop punk sound that blends the best of Britpop with 90s American neo-punk bands. The emphasis here is on melody and hooks a-plenty. And Noogie write about those experiences they know best: being young, having a good time, hanging out and just being young, and wild and free. The songs are straightforward and without pretense, as evident on the lead track and chronicle of restlessness "I'd Rather Float," the tale of a dying friendship titled "Danger," and on the teenage breakup song "Never Look Back." The best of the ten songs on the record, though, is the first single "Meantime." It's a three-minute starburst with the simple chorus "What do you want, how do you want it, when do you want it all."
Noogie's Learn to Swim is short and sweet, clocking in at just over thirty minutes. And that makes it the ideal kind of bright and fun summertime beach music. If you want to freshen up that party mix of Blink-182, Green Day, and early No Doubt, a little Noogie is all you'll need.
