Putting out a new record every year since 2011, Broadcaster may be fairly new to the party, but they’ve come in guns locked and loaded, here to please. A Million Hours has been described as almost “canonical” by those familiar with the band’s brief history, and rightfully so. The group has a way of putting out consistent material that embodies the same style and yet manages not to sound like a rehash of old ideas, and that tradition is continued on their latest release.
While the band’s classic three-piece setup is unlimited in what it can do on the record, they mostly adhere to using simple rhythm with a few tricks thrown in here or there to keep the music enticing. Great guitar riffs sneak in between rather than going overboard with digital effects and poppy synths. Opening tracks “The Current,” “Jamie” and “Show Me Something New” are brilliantly simple, with a taste of refreshingly cool lyrics.
Broadcaster classify as power pop/punk but their music is far from what you’d expect from either genre. Later tracks like “Petrified” and “Wasting Time With You” show just how down to earth Broadcaster are. There are hints of punk rock aggression mixed pretty well with softcore stylings, but for the most part, it’s closer to indie rock than it is to either. While A Million Hours isn’t the first thing you’re bound to jump out of your seat for this year, it’s an album that gets props for not trying too hard without getting lazy, and certainly stands out over recent power pop releases.
A Million Hours is the kind of record that finds itself well with college students and fans of groups like The Weakerthans and Jawbreaker. In the genre of power pop, it’s definitely one of the better releases to come around in recent years, but whether it has a place as one of the better albums overall is still up for some debate.
In A Word: Modern
