ALBUM REVIEW: Superluminal – Locket
Canadian alt-rock band LOCKET are back with their second full-length album Superluminal – the follow up to 2019’s All Out. Although they didn’t officially start recording the album until 2021, they did start messing around with songwriting for it in 2020 seeing as they had extra time on their hands to, in their own words, “write music for no other reason than writing music.” With no expectations, they wrote an album they believed to be “authentically” themselves, so does it come across that way? Mostly.
After opening with the intro and title track that creates an ethereal atmosphere, the band head straight into catchy pop-rock territory with Sonic Boom that just frankly sounds so cool and bouncy. The incorporation of pop-punk and emo elements has the listener visualising a house party with one person wandering around feeling slightly lost before catching the eye of someone that causes them to lower their guard. In a way, before it gets to the aptly-named interlude of Pause, the album is just in pure serotonin-boosting mode with solid tracks that have you imagining fun scenes as the band play them to a live audience.
Following the interlude, the mood at least attempts to shift into something more serious. In some moments, that attempt pays off with tracks like Rearview Memory, a solid alternative rock track with a standout chorus that feels comforting and nostalgic of early to mid-00s rock, alongside Tear Me To Pieces, a fun rock song that has you involuntarily bopping your head along to it, and the aptly-named closing track Finale that is a soft acoustic track that is just lovely to listen to.
However, other songs go in slightly odd directions, such as you&i that starts out promising as a soft alternative rock track that feels nostalgic but then the weird sampling of noises and TV snippets throw you off because they just don’t work. And then there are songs that feel like they should give more but just don’t. Seventh track Fun House and recent single Glowing right after it give the impression that we’re going to have explosive choruses and bridges that will make you feel something, whether excitement or motivation you don’t know what it will be, but you wait, and it never hits. It’s frustrating as these songs could be further examples of standout moments but it instead they just feel underwhelming and leave you with an itch you can’t quite scratch.
Overall though, Superluminal is a decent pop-rock album, don’t get us wrong; it has its share of incredible moments, but it also has some frustrating sections that leave you wishing there was a little bit more.
Rating: 7/10
Superluminal is out now via Fearless Records.
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