Artist: Logan Square
Album: Pessimism and Satire
Label: Fearless Records
Tracks: 11
Review by: Christopher Thomas!

When I go to the grocery store I buy generic Frosted Fudge toaster pastries. They're super cheap, and they make a.) a great breakfast or b.) an even better dessert. Now, if I bought regular General Mills brand Pop-Tarts, I know they would be delicious. After all, they invented the things, right? They were the innovators, and now generic brands are popping up all over the place making delicious and ever-so-slightly different knockoffs of the original. But they're cheap, and they're tasty, and I don't mind getting the off-brand if it saves me some change.

Enter Logan Square. From the beginning of the disc, their songs are catchy and well-played. Every song has a hook that just makes you want to sing along. But the more you listen, the more you think, "Wait a second. I know this song." Their sound is far from original. They play the dark yet catchy style of pop-punk in the vein of Alkaline Trio, the Ataris, Bayside, and a host of others. But like those generic toaster pastries, the disc is enjoyable despite being obviously derivative. So maybe they borrowed a guitar lick here or a dark, twisted lyric there. The bottom line is that they use them well.

The standout track on the record is "When I Find You," a heart wrenching account of rape on a college campus. The up front nature of the lyrics makes the story all the more disturbing, and the song is surprisingly catchy despite the subject matter.

Logan Square are the generic Pop-Tarts. But it's just as good, so you probably won't care. In the future I hope to see some more originality brought to the songs, but for now I'll bob my head and hum along and save a couple bucks at the grocery store.