Album Review :: Candy Hearts :: The Best Ways To Disappear

Written by: Andrea Janov, CC2K Music Editor

Okay, So here is another installment of, I reeeeaaallly like bubble gum pop punk. Candy Hearts’ The Best Ways to Disappear is the first release on Chad Gilbert’s Bridge Nine imprint label, Violently Happy Records. And what an album to lead off with, I think that it embodies everything that Chad Gilbert loves in music. Poppy, upbeat fun with an attitude and slight edge.

The songs on The Best Ways to Disappear give a voice to the female side of relationships in punk songs. There is none of the sappy love or angry break up tracks either, they all contain a straight forward matter of fact attitude. Honestly, I never knew that this approach and voice was lacking, but I feel damned good that it is represented here.

My three favorite tracks (yeah, yeah, I picked three out of the six tracks on the EP) show how diverse a pop punk album can be. Bad Idea, is about bad boys and their draw, “I want to be reckless with you” and “you’re a bad idea and I know it” says it all. We have all been there (or at least most of us). We could have a MeetUp and use this as our theme song.

Miles and Interstates is super catchy, yet the least sugary of the tracks on The Best Ways to Disappear. It is the story of a punk rock relationship that started in a parking lot of a show in a beat up van that regresses to a song in her head and a faded Polaroid. The hook in the chorus is just so freaking awesome.

Sick of It, is an acoustic track, a ballad that is stripped down, beautiful and honest. The last verse of the song surprises us with a burst of full instrumentation that makes the song killer.

There is no denying that this album is a ton of fun, with super catchy music, killer vocals but it also as has substance and isn’t trying to posture. I have listened toThe Best Ways to Disappear on repeat for a week now, and it just keeps getting better. And who doesn’t love a band that lists Jordan Catalano as one of their interests?