Artist: The Roosevelts
Album: It's So Hard To Make A Sound
Label: Word of Mouth Records
Tracks: 13
Length: 52:04

I opened the mailbox. There, amidst the bills and junk mail, I saw the corner of a package. "Dear Lord", I prayed. "If, in your divine providence, you have willed that this package shall contain another batch of mediocre pop-punk or emo albums for review, I ask that you either smite me now or provide a means for the mail to spontaneously combust. Amen." I opened my eyes. I looked around. I checked my pulse. I had not been smitten. I looked down. The package had not spontaneously combusted.

Now, a less faithful person might have doubted that God had answered my prayer when, a few moments later, the Roosevelts newest album slid out of the package. You see, it is custom for mediocre pop-punk and emo bands (and the trend has recently spread to the indie rock scene as well) to adapt names that begin with "the". As if that was not enough, the album title, "It's So Hard To Make A Sound" is written in large Adolescent font (the most punk rock of all Microsoft Word fonts). And adding to the reasons for skepticism, I recalled having an archaic copy of the Roosevelt's (somewhat bland) last album, Friday Nights, collecting dust in a closet somewhere. But as I am a faithful and pious man, I knew that my prayer would not go unanswered.

Somewhere between the time when I put the disc in my cd player and the first ten seconds or so, it hit me: this was a completely different band than the Roosevelts I had heard before. Gone were the rushed, three-chord anthems; replaced with a nice medley of sugary power pop and intelligent punk rock. Track by track the album progressed - each song building off the last with tight hooks, vocal harmony, and interesting guitar work. Lyrically, the band has come a long way as well. The songs that once were somewhat juvenile, now tackled topics related to growing up: marriage, finding your place in the world, transitioning between youth and responsibility. The Roosevelts have most definitely matured.

This album proves that there is more coming out of Tennessee than an overabundance of country musicians and the artists wound up in the corporate leviathan of contemporary Christian music. Think Weezer with a little bit more punk, and you've got the Roosevelts. If that sounds intriguing, then I encourage you to check these guys out; they are better than most of the other bands coming out under the pop-punk label.

And who says God doesn't answer prayer?