With more punk than pop that has been seen on the previous releases of 2010, Keep This To Yourself starts out strong with “Dear Anyone” as Joe Boynton exclaims “Nobody knows what I’m trying hide // Not even me”. “Dear Anyone” also gives a preview of the guitar work by Tim Landers and Joe Lacy that proves to be the key to the album. “Please Head North”, one of the stronger songs on the record, displays all of Transit’s talents and abilities in one as unique guitar sounds flow over a hard pop-punk drum part as Boynton states, “I just can’t write another one of these summer songs” and begs “Oh please // Not another sad // Sad song.”
The main theme of Keep This To Yourself seems to regard exiting, first taking shape on “Return Address” as Boynton proclaims, “I guess kids like me // Know how to make an exit // But we never really leave”. The theme stays true in “No Inbetween” as the album’s slowest and calmest track provides the lyrics, “I have nowhere to be // But I’m leaving again // And that’s just how it’s always been.” The first half of Keep This To Yourself shows nothing but promise, but the second half is where Transit show their magic.
“Leave the keys inside the mailbox // I’ll be by soon enough // Too young to hold on // Too old to just give up” is how “I was Going To Cross This Out” starts out as the second half of Keep This To Yourself brings a whole different strain of dark energy to the record with stronger drum parts and more raw vocals. “Photographic Memory” is the darkest song on the record as Boynton states, “It takes most of the bottle // To get half of the truth” before claiming, with true emotion, “You can have a photographic memory // It still won’t bring it back // It still won’t bring us back.”
“Our New Year” proves to be one of Keep This To Yourself’s best. Musically it covers all of the bases as Landers and Lacy’s guitars surpass many of the previous songs and Boynton’s vocals sound best as he sings “It’s one thing to ruin these songs for me // But you’ve ruined places that I used to love and live to forget.” Keep This To Yourself comes to a close with “Love____”, a classic pop-punk closer as “I always knew that I would live and die in Boston” is one lyric that you will not be able to get out of your head. And in a way very similar to “Please Head North,” Boynton cries “Oh my god, why is the world so sad?”
New Found Glory said it first, ‘Pop Punk Is Not Dead’. After a few miserable years it’s time to accept the fact that pop-punk is back, and pop-punk is stronger than ever. With a brand new class of bands like Four Year Strong, Fireworks, The Swellers, The Wonder Years, Man Overboard, and now Transit, the torch has been passed on and is burning strong. There is no question that Transit’s Keep This To Yourself solidifies 2010 as the year for pop-punk.
****.5/*****
