New Orleans Pop Punkers Neutral Snap Release Sophomore Album

Photo Credit: LazyEye Photography

Pop-punk is by far my favorite musical genre. I get a lot of music sent way which I have to pass on, but whenever I see new music from a pop-punk band I always give it a listen. That was the case with New Orleans based Neutral Snap. They just released their sophomore album Tell Me How I Feel on Oct 22^nd. This is the band’s second album for Orange Music Records. Sorry, I Passed Out was released on in 2020.

The quartet is made up of Joshua Latham (vocals), J.P Brown (guitar), Dominick Conforte (bass), and Ray-Ray Boudreaux (drums). The band was formed by Latham and Brown during high school and expanded while the two were attending Louisiana State University. During their college years, they were known for playing shows at local fraternities and went viral when LSU grad and former NBA star Shaquille O’Neil joined them on stage at one of their shows. Neutral snap released their first single “Out of Formality” in 2017. This was followed by “Yellow Suitcase”, “Perfect Spiral”, and “Bed Sweats”, each of which appeared on their debut album.

Neutral Snap’s new album is pure pop-punk with upbeat music and soaring vocals. I’m not very familiar with the band so I don’t know their influences. However, I hear bits and pieces of several bands including Blink-182, R.E.M, Less Thank Jake, and Sum 41 in the album. Latham’s vocals style reminds me of Mark Hoppus on “Go Ahead”, and Michael Stipe on “Maybe Sometimes” and “Shady Oak”. The songs are all pop-punk but the band does throw in a few post hardcore screams at the end of “Go Ahead” and “I’m Crazy (But You) Like That”.

“This album is a processing of the unprecedented times we live in,” shares the band. “It is the culmination of all the different feelings we’ve experienced and events we never thought would happen. TMHIF has a little bit of something for everyone, and we can’t wait to take y’all on this journey with us.”

Just ahead of the album’s release the band shared their music video for “Sleeves.” The video “follows a guy who is totally fed up with the world and everyone around him,” according to the band. They continue, “We based this idea off of our own feelings of how we went stir crazy during lock down.”

I really like the band and their latest album Tell Me How I Feel. It’s everything that pop-punk should be fast-paced music and lyrics with an attitude. However, the band gets a little too cute at times with some cheeky spoken parts on a few songs like “This Is What I’ve Been Doing” à la “Hip To Be Scared” by Ice Nine Kills. This causes the music to lose some momentum at times but overall it’s still a good effort by the band.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

Neutral Snap on Social Media

Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
TikTok

Tell Me How I Feel Tracklist

1. Go Ahead
2. I’m Crazy (But You) Like That
3. I Think I’m Falling In Love With A Girl From The Circus
4. Checked Out
5. Maybe Sometimes
6. Chuckled
7. This Is What I’ve Been Doing
8. Does Anyone Actually Know Hilary Swank? Like, Personally?
9. Awkward Conversations
10. Shady Oak
11. Sleeves

Post by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

Comment below.