Tommy and the Commies are a punk band from Ontario, Canada, and have just delivered their debut project Here Come. Even as most punk releases go, this project is quite short, weighing in at just 16 minutes. But it makes up for its brevity with some excellent pacing, writing, and instrumental work.
The project starts on a high with “Devices”, a track dealing with relationships and communication over some excellently snappy punk instrumentation. The guitar work across this project as a whole really stands out, due to its tendency to mesh with the vocal melodies, or act as a counter-melody, popping up throughout the album to add a more sophisticated element to the classic punk stylings utilised by the band.
There are definitely some more power-pop influences brought into the fray as the project progresses (“Straight Jacket”, a highlight, stands out for instance), which helps the choruses and transitions feel more clean and catchy , and allows for some of the stylistic shifts to punk to remain fresh and dynamic across the runtime, as opposed to becoming over-done. “Hurtin’ Boys” shows some further stylistic changes, with a more varied and jagged guitar section taking place over repeated cords, which allows for more complex riffs to fill the gaps where vocal delivery isn’t present.
Lead singer, Tommy Commy, who has a very expressive and emotive style of delivery, has a number of great performances across the album, with tracks such as “Permanent Fixture” showcasing both his range and his ability to change pace and cadence tactfully enough to keep tracks going smoothly.
For a project of this style and length, the band’s ability to remain dynamic, entertaining, and keep a good intensity, is at the core of what listeners often find appealing, and is definitely one of the band’s strengths, especially in the first half of the project.
Here Come is short and sweet, but also very polished and professional, especially for such an early-career project. This hopefully is indicative of Tommy and the Commies’ potential and abilities, as their attention to detail in the creating such polished and dynamic punk music, that still retains a unique personality and identity, is quite unique in our current era of revivalism and nostalgia.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Here Come is available now through Slovenly Records. You can stream the record HERE.
