Album Review

Serving as a companion to the Philadelphia band’s previous album Sports, Modern Baseball hits it out of the park with You’re Gonna Miss It All, a 12-song LP that chronicles front man Brenden Lukens’ experience with his relationships and friends while away at college. Two mutually exclusive attitudes are present within these songs—some are laughable and satirical, while the rest profoundly evoke a sense of sadness—all while having a theme of self-introspection and external social awareness.

Brenden isn’t your typical pop-punk lyricist or vocalist, either—in just about every song he sets the attitude of the music by masking his feelings with an almost sarcastic, geeky tone and emotionally conscious lyrics. Through his words, you can practically figure out who Brenden is as a person; your typical college kid who finds his way into short-lived relationships because of girls he unfortunately meets at parties. Once he’s sober and acquainted, he ends up bearing the weight of the girl’s issues, something just about anyone can relate with if they’ve gone through a college experience. These quaint and humorously relatable ideas are the foundation for every song on the album.

The genre of the band isn’t easy to define, either. A listen to either Sports or You’re Gonna Miss It All and one could come to the conclusion of “folk punk”, but regardless, every song has a unique taste to it. The tracks “Rock Bottom” and “Your Graduation” embody the classic pop-punk vibe with catchy choruses and descriptive verses, while the slower-paced songs “Timmy Bowers” and “Pothole” possess an organic acoustic melody with poetic, desperate and brutally honest lyrics to match.

You’re Gonna Miss It All is better enjoyed when the listener can relate to its themes of comical mistakes and regrets, but nevertheless deserves attention from anyone who fancies mellow-minded rock music or is looking for an alternative, distinctive side of punk rock.