I can’t figure out just who The Rational Anthem remind me of, but it’s poppy on the clean and crisp side, with a lot of backing harmonies and a fun sound that counters what is generally a lost at sea mindset. In other words, it’s Midwest-influenced pop-punk that would fit great on a comp with bands like Dear Landlord, The Copyrights, The Dopamines, and other like-minded groups.
The pop sound is driven both by clean vocals (with a touch of snottiness from Chris Hembrough) and slightly gruffer complementary touches from Noelle Stolp, alongside a big leading guitar that powers the bridges between chord happy, bounce-alongs as the bass gives a nice variation to the album’s hooks, all united via Pete Stop’s drums.
This is fist in the air happy music, running 8 cuts in just 18 minutes and it has me wondering how, while aware of the band for some years now, they’ve never fully clicked until listening to this full-length.
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