Album Review :: Archers and Arrows :: Alone Together

Written by: Andrea Janov, CC2K Music Editor

Archers and Arrows :: Alone Together out now and available on their Bandcamp

Through CC2K I am lucky enough to get emails from bands all over the world and discover music I would have never heard of. This week I am pleased to introduce you to Archers and Arrows are an awesome punk band from Switzerland.

Their latest album, Alone Together is a fantastic pop punk creation. The tracks on Alone Together are pop punk songs with instances of this great guttural inflection and an indie undertone. Most of the lyrics are socially conscious or talk about what it means to be in a punk band.

The album starts off with Innocence, a slower track with vocals that come from somewhere deep inside and a great sing along section near the end. The lyrics introduce the listener to Archers and Arrows’ political views, “All we have is nothing more than constraints / Choices everywhere, every time we go further / Is that what we call liberty? / We’re ruining our credibility / In taking away others‘ dignity / It makes me sick with nausea”.

Numb/Dumb is probably my favorite track, the vocals are grittier and it has more of a punk vibe (and this one too has a killer sing along section near the end). My Own God and has hints of Davey Havock in the moments when the crooning voice is allowed to come through. Sing to the Wind is a self-aware track, “I find myself questioning everything around me / Everything I thought I knew everything that felt right” that fuses 80s new wave/electro pop with modern indie to create a super unique sounding track.  Self-Made Man has hints at transitional AFI when there was both crooning and screaming in the same track, only Archers and Arrows have made it their own. I love the end of the track, where the music is stripped down, and it is the first time that we get to hear their accent.

Alone Together is a gritty track that is about connecting with someone, “Scared to confront each other’s looks / Our awkward talks, our strong feelings / Hiding in a safe and protective place”.  And Dirty Hands is a super catchy track about disillusionment , “My efforts are naive and I’m still waiting / I prefer to cling to my teenage dreams / I’m tired”. Sing and Play is the track that is about being a punk band, it will make you fall in love with punk and with Archers are Arrows “And it’s a huge and crazy privilege / For us to live our lives through our passion / Our hearts beat so fast /  Every time we play / We hope that it will never end” and “We’re lucky bastards, without you we’re nothing / Sing with us, be a part, a part of it, tonight!” The song is everything it should be, it is a good time about having a good time playing music. And I don’t know about you guys, but I want to listen to bands who really love to play. Emergency ends the album on a slow and mellow note, the perfect comedown.

The more I listened to this album, the more I got into it, especially with all the kick ass sing along type moments in each of the tracks. They totally can rally an audience.