Lila Ignite – ‘Not Punk Rock’ [Album Review]

Pop punk bands, in general, don’t seem to stray too much from a winning formula. You get the album, it’s usually about ten songs long and they knock those songs out in about half an hour. Not so with New York-based alternative punk rockers Lila Ignite who, on their new album, Not Punk Rock, have popped out a two-disc set that clocks in at over ninety minutes. That’s a lot of punk for your buck but then, reading between the lines, Lila Ignite are not a band who do things by half.

So, to surmise that ninety minutes, Not Punk Rock is a release full of songs that make you smile, songs that make you sad, and songs that make you feel warm inside. It’s got songs on it about girls, relationships, love and life. Not Punk Rock is what is described perfectly as a “feelgood” album. Songs like “Meaningless” and “Where I Belong” have a bit of pop, a bit of rock, a bit of punk, and a bit of Weezer before being all dusted off with a bit of sunshine to give them a warm glow.

The main issue though is the length of the thing and how, instead of turning this into two ten-track albums, the whole thing becomes a stamina test due to the fact that each track doesn’t deviate too much from the alt-pop-rock-punk path Lila Ignite have chosen. So, by the time you’ve reached about track twelve or thirteen, it’s becoming a bit of a struggle. Yes, of course you don’t have to listen to it all in one go but, if that’s the case, why, if you’ve got so much material, not split it into two albums?

Fair play to Lila Ignite for stepping outside the boundaries of the punk-rock album formula and doing something a little more daring, especially in a time when the youth prefer to digest their music one or two tracks at a time, rather than over the course of a full album but, you know what, sometimes it’s nice to just put on a punk rock album and it be exactly what you expect – thirty minutes of brainless, infectious pop.

Not Punk Rock Track Listing:

01. Memento
02. Sinking Deeper
03. Better Than This
04. Not Punk Rock
05. Bittersweet
06. Enjoy the Weather
07. When It Rains, It Pours
08. Floating
09. Where I Belong
10. Flaws and Fears
11. Red
12. I’ll Be Alright
13. Escape This Life
14. Meaningless
15. The Existentialist
16. All You’ve Got
17. Irreplaceable
18. Apologies (Waiting)
19. I’m Not Afraid
20. Connected Through Space

Run Time: 94:55
Release Date: October 24, 2014

Check out the track “Memento” here