CollapserBanner Pilot
Rating: 4 out of 5
Stars Released: Sept. 1, 2009
Label: Fat Wreck Chords
Review by: Bill Jones
Every once in a great while, a packaging image truly sums up what listeners can expect to find on that album. Banner Pilot’s sophomore full-length effort, Collapser, happens to be one of those albums. It is not the cover art, but the image on the back of the CD case that does it for this one. Amplifiers and speakers are plugged in next to a campfire that seems to be burning in an urban setting, maybe under a viaduct. Atop one of the speakers rests a plastic cup of beer, probably warm.
Somehow that strange image exemplifies the latest Midwestern punk gem from Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Banner Pilot. Collapser is an album that has a gritty sound reminiscent of The Lawrence Arms, combined with a wealth of pop-punk bands this reviewer grew up liking before they “matured” their sounds, with a tinge of sped-up Jawbreaker and of course the band’s Minneapolis punk cohorts, Dillinger Four. Add to that a touch of Off With Their Heads, and it gets close to describing the sound of Collapser.
From the opening guitars and then drums of “Central Standard,” to the fade out of the final track, “Write it Down,” Collapser is an infectious album full of energy and punch. To go with the music, Nick Johnson provides some of his best lyrics yet, striking a just-poetic-enough-but-not-too-pretentious-to-be-punk tone. Take, for instance, the chorus of "Northern Skyline."
For those already fans of Banner Pilot, Collapser is a lot more of tracks like “Defender” than the whiplash, circle pit-inducing tunes like “Sun Belt Scars.” That raw aggression gives way a bit on Collapser, but it’s a good trade for some of the best songwriting from the band yet, with one catchy tune after another.
Somehow that strange image exemplifies the latest Midwestern punk gem from Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Banner Pilot. Collapser is an album that has a gritty sound reminiscent of The Lawrence Arms, combined with a wealth of pop-punk bands this reviewer grew up liking before they “matured” their sounds, with a tinge of sped-up Jawbreaker and of course the band’s Minneapolis punk cohorts, Dillinger Four. Add to that a touch of Off With Their Heads, and it gets close to describing the sound of Collapser.
From the opening guitars and then drums of “Central Standard,” to the fade out of the final track, “Write it Down,” Collapser is an infectious album full of energy and punch. To go with the music, Nick Johnson provides some of his best lyrics yet, striking a just-poetic-enough-but-not-too-pretentious-to-be-punk tone. Take, for instance, the chorus of "Northern Skyline."
“To hell with red light, driving on / An open cage, this bird is gone / But I can’t leave this town if you’re not with me / I’ve been fighting boredom and routine / I’ll trade the white for forest green / But I can’t leave this town if you’re not with me I’m lost”
For those already fans of Banner Pilot, Collapser is a lot more of tracks like “Defender” than the whiplash, circle pit-inducing tunes like “Sun Belt Scars.” That raw aggression gives way a bit on Collapser, but it’s a good trade for some of the best songwriting from the band yet, with one catchy tune after another.
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