Album Review: Our Past Days - 'Keep Safe'

It feels like Our Past Days have been in the local music scene forever, even though they are only just now releasing their debut album 'Keep Safe'. That’s largely due to the fact that they have invested so much time and work into making a solid place for themselves within the scene, but there’s no effort that can substitute the value of pumping out a great, cut-the-shit album.

Well, it’s a good thing that the band has done just that with 'Keep Safe' then!

'Keep Safe' can’t be necessarily described as a "pop-punk" album, despite what prior-released single 'Bloom Where You’re Planted' may have lead you to believe. It’s more inventive, warranting a line to be drawn between what you would coin as simply generic and the creative crafting of this suite of tracks. It’s also a lot darker than you may expect. From the glory that you’ll find in the brooding riffs on 'Graves', the first cab off the ranks, to the Make Do And Mend inspired expression of album closer 'Daylight'; this album is dark, sure, but it's also hopeful.

It feels like everything on the band's debut record is purposeful, like whoever mixed it took their bloody time inspecting and refining every single nook & cranny of this ship. The layering of the screams and clean singing on 'Too Much, Too Soon' is a post-hardcore dream, while the heavily loaded guitars across the entire LP lend even more weight to the impact of these songs. Having said that though, even on cuts that show a far softer touch like the acoustic 'Sleep & Stir', the emotion is as palpable as ever; whether it manifests in blissful crashes of chaotic instrumentals (see: 'I Still Fear You In My Bones') or on the cutesy, unplugged numbers.

Seriously, though, we both know that you have a playlist of sappy acoustics you run at 2am when you can’t sleep and we thoroughly recommend you add 'Sleep & Stir' onto it.

'Keep Safe' is a noteworthy offering from a band that deserves a place in the Spotify rotation of pop-punk and post-hardcore fans the world over. For a debut album, it demonstrates a real goddamn sense of maturity for Our Past Days, who have delivered an LP that’s expressive and distinctive. Even though the band might not think so, 'Keep Safe' more than earns its position as the flagship release of the newly-established Greyscale Records.

1. Graves

2. The Distance

3. Too Much, Too Soon

4. Restless

5. Tired Eyes

6. Numb

7. Sleep & Stir

8. I Still Fear You In My Bones

9. Split My Brain

10. Bloom Where You're Planted

11. Daylight

'Keep Safe' is out September 2nd via Greyscale Records.