Philly-based The Wonder Years released Suburbia I’ve Given You All and now I’m Nothing last week to even more fanfare and critical acclaim than last years’ "The Upsides". Successful pop punk walks a very thin line between the pop and the punk, a line too many bands lose sight of as they become successful and lean too far into the pop side, seeking commercial success. The Wonder Years, however, toe the line beautifully, creating some of their most accessible, and yet still uniquely authentic material to date. Superior pop punk relies heavily on clever lyrics, which are found in abundance on this album. These are guys that have been around the block and lived to tell about it, in a supremely candid and engaging way. Listen to either of the last two discs and you’ll find you genuinely want to be friends with these guys. The line “I spent this year as a ghost, and I’m not sure where home is anymore,” from “Came Out Swinging” speaks simply and eloquently to the travails of being on the road. Such clever insightfulness is laid over a strong performance from the band with especially powerful drum work on a number of the tracks. It’s tough to follow up a ‘breakthrough’ album like “The Upsides” with a work that is widely accepted as growth and progression, but that is exactly what “Suburbia” gives us.
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