- School Damage’s outsider music subverted both punk and pop into a catchy concoction that sat real well with me during their debut outing last year. So being able to fill a void in the times following with more School Damage that was a chance to be jumped at. Already youthful, conscious, spontaneous and unique, going into A to X, there isn’t much new territory explored but instead the band have really worked to make more out of what they've got. It widens the view adopted. More sombre, drawn-out songs are a song writing germination and a deepening of the well for School Damage to fill their sonic super-soakers.
Static spaces are few and far between over the fourteen tracks, shunned in favour of angular guitar lines basted in keyboards and left to stew. It's unpolished but therein lies much of the appeal; although this appeal can wear itself thin. The songwriting whips through a constellation of singular thoughts: direct and concise points are jotted down, all with tangible relation to shared feelings. Spat out over rhythms at a pace that would appease the keyboard connoisseur that is Mark Cone, the rapid fire quirkiness of Psykick Damage’s jutting core and Meeting Halfway’s yelping vocals create blends that School Damage commands with finesse. Taking cues from art pop, the quartet move for more dulcet vocals, narrating their way through a string of modern malaises.
While variations of pace can keep it interesting and recalling tales of shared -or at the very least honest- sentiments leave the impression that this sophomore album takes the logical step forward in growing the band's song-writing chops, it doesn't all work in School Damage's favour. Back Seat is a busy song as each instrument pans out on its separate path, but it loses cohension and crashlands in a peppy mess. Ironically, the following song City Streets is my favourite song of theirs to date: revolving around strong, solid drumming, the keys work with restraint, plucky guitars that initially came through on Psykick Damage are reeled and it all opens up beautifully into a smooth, soaring chorus. Padded chords from those keys hum underneath vocal harmonies and trigger sweet melancholy; it's a mutation of The Go Betweens' playbook into a style all its own. Switching vocalists on All Gone contrasts its predecessor with glittering, down strumming bummer punk. Always at their best when things take a turn for the chaotic, In Love With a Chump brings much needed energy into the latter half of the record with freewheeling jangles launching bitterness in a furious, to the point burst.
For the most part, A to X is the next move for a band who continue to furnish the niche they've carved with a happy amalgamations of parts. The ratios of which-elements-are-mixed-in-where offers pleasant variety. To me, School Damage are still finding their feet and working through a sound that, on occasion produces addictive tunes that you'll find yourself humming along to: the essence of successful pop, no? On the flipside, the unpolished sound of the childish keys and loosely arranged instruments, though inherent to A to X’s appeal, can become grating. There’s no doubt that they’re blazing their own trail with this DIY, punk infused, outsider pop. Its glimpses of brilliance are sometimes lost amid the blurting keyboards. There really are so many elements to School Damage's musical lexicon. Here’s hoping on their next outing they make it all the way to the end of the alphabet. They’re on the precipice and I think that final letter will unlock what’s lacking.
- Matthew Lynch.