Album Review: Silverstein - Short Songs

Never has there been a more appropriate album name in the history of album naming. Though the whole release is a whopping 22 songs long, Silverstein have kept true to the two-word summation with the length of the songs ranging from a mere five seconds to a (still mere) 1.37. It's almost jarring that the songs are so damn short because they lack structure and seem to be over before you even realise it's started. The beauty in this odd little album, though, lies in the fact that half the album consists of short renditions of songs by punk and hardcore bands that influenced them, like NOFX, Green Day, Dead Kennedys and more.

Of the originals the Canadian band offer here, songs like Brookfield and World On Fire retain the familiar hardcore-punk feel of the band's previous albums. However, their sound, though the same, feels trapped within the constraints of the songs' briefness – they lack powerful builds, climaxes and moments to draw things in a little. Because most of these songs have this fast punk rock feel, perhaps they throw in a sweet-tongued little acoustic number, Sleep Around, to restore the balance.

The title track, Short Songs, and first track of the covers side of things, is a peculiar little song with about a billion guest vocalists, including members of Rise Against, Propagandhi and Anti-Flag. Not much can be said of the rest of these covers, other than Silverstein do a pretty good job on Gob's 236 E Broadway as well as The Promise Ring's Scenes From Parisian Life. Maybe the whole album is just their way of having fun – and the five second exclamation of You Gotta Stay Positive sure affirms this.