Transit
Stay Home (Run For Cover)
Release Date: April 14, 2009
1. Stay Home
2. Nameless (Songs to Static)
3. Stays the Same (mp3)
4. Atlas
5. Riverside
6. Outbound
Something tells me that Transit has probably been slapped with the “emotional hardcore” tag more than a few times. Granted, the Boston five piece certainly fits the bill; their stamp on the genre feels intensely cathartic…as if each member of the band is hell bent on purging his soul with every furious, heart-wrenching note that passes through the speakers. And that’s one of the reasons why I’m less concerned with the group being labelled as such. While the term has been recycled to the point of redundancy, Transit truly sound like they’re playing punk rock as if their lives depend on it.
Of course, that completely ignores one of the quintet’s most compelling strengths: writing surprisingly complex, innovative songs that not only get our blood boiling, but that work over the the old brain muscle as well.
Stay Home, Transit’s third release in two years, is an exercise in these two seemingly conflicting schools. On one hand, there’s no shortage raw, emotional grit coursing through these six combustible songs. The chords are punchy and exuberant. Propelled by breakneck drumming and a bass line that pounds a groove nearly a mile deep, gruff-yet-melodic vocals and insanely catchy choruses inspire a virtually involuntary fist-pumping, lung-shredding reaction from the listener.
On the other side of the coin though is Transit’s grasp of dynamics and creative band interplay. Whether it’s the subtly intricate guitar work – soaring, twisting, yet always pushing songs forward with conviction – or the interwoven, call-and-response vocal exchanges between frontman Joe Boynton and guitarists Joe Lacy and Tim Landers, Stay Home has no shortage of these moments of pulse-quickening complexity. Even if it’s not the first thing that comes to mind upon initial spins, Transit’s full-bore, let it all hang out mentality is complimented by an abundance of dramatic pauses, unexpected tempo changes, suspenseful buildups and a back-and-forth between band members that can be downright addictive.
Simply put, there’s not a lot of punk (and, ahem…”emotional hardcore”) these days that feels so complete as Stay Home. It’s the type of release that inspires us to jump out of our seats and satisfies our basest, most immediate thirst for passionate anthems. At the same time, Transit design remarkably sophisticated layers that slowly but surely wrap themselves around our heads…and it’s this innovation and creativity that truly keeps us riveted.
Stay Home was recorded and produced by Jay Maas (Title Fight, Verse, Shipwreck, Cruel Hand) at Getaway Group Recording Studio in June of 2008. The EP will be released by Run For Cover Records on April 14th, 2009. Barrett Records released Transit’s debut EP, Let It Out, in 2007, as well as their debut full-length, This Will Not Define Us, in 2008. For more information, go to www.myspace.com/transitma or www.runforcoverrecords.com.
