Permanent ME, a quartet from Bellmore, New York, have impressed me with their album, After the Room Clears. Originally called “Yes, Virginia,” they had to change their name due to Boston-based band The Dresden Dolls titling their latest album Yes, Virginia.
Before I was asked to write this review, I hadn’t heard of the band. The press release stated that they had gone on tour with Fall Out Boy, and were getting ready for a tour with Boys Like Girls, Cartel and Cobra Starship, and that the album was produced by Matt Squire, the same guy who produced Panic! At the Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, so I felt myself to be in good hands.
While Permanent ME is another band to add to the ever-growing roster of pop-punk boy beauties, After the Room Clears distinguishes them enough to create a name for themselves. I mean, they did just finish a tour with Fall Out Boy!
The first song on the album, and the first single, “Until You Leave,” is a catchy way to begin. I must say, the song has a bit of an undertone that reminds me of older Brand New or Taking Back Sunday songs.
The one thing that’s kind of holding me back in terms of saying that their songs are astounding is that their lyrics are a little, well, literal in terms of what they have to say. It’s a bit different from the quality I like in songs, where there’s at least some kind of underlying metaphor.
The title of the album comes from the fourth song, “4 A.M.,” which details loneliness, and has a couple of powerful lines, like “But now they’ve torched the buildings/And the corner stores away/In our hearts there will always be a void/And you know that.” This sort of playing with words leads to much interpretation, and alludes to more than one void. I finally get some emotion that’s not so bluntly stated.
While they say that they’ve tried to steer clear of falling into the trap of “Long Island punk” or being overly-categorized, once they hit a bigger level of fame, Permanent ME will most likely be lumped into many genres. It happens that the type of music they enjoy playing is also being exhausted and whored out all over MTV.
Regardless of the downfalls, Permanent ME’s first commercial release is a fun little sing-along album to listen to when you need a nice pick-me-up.
Anyone who enjoys the aforementioned bands Fall Out Boy, Boys Like Girls or Panic! At the Disco should at least give Permanent ME a chance. They can be found on MySpace, PureVolume or on Stolen Transmission’s Web-site.