Before you read anything past the first sentence of this review, it’s important to know that Transit earned everything I’m about to write about them.

We naturally hold great bands to higher standards. It is, of course, completely normal to expect a good band to write a good record. So when Transit wrote Listen and Forgive, by all accounts a brilliant album, they subjected themselves to this higher standard. They did something great, and with that comes the expectation of continued greatness. It’s because of this band’s boundless potential and proven track record that their new releases are evaluated with the kid gloves taken off. I know how good Transit can be. I’ve heard it. And because of that, I can say Young New England is the most shocking disappointment to come from the wave of pop-punk bands that Transit has grown up with. 

A few years ago, a lot of positive reviews for pop-punk records talked about how the record in question was a change of pace; a break from the then-unfortunate norm of neon clothes and auto-tune. That tone began to change – slowly at first, then with increasing speed. Something of a “golden age” emerged, and whether you want to thank Run For Cover and No Sleep Records or any of the other numerous amazing independent labels that have been the behind-the-scenes faces of this movement is your call. But my point remains: For avid music listeners, for the users on this website, and for the college-aged generation across the country, these record labels and a tight-knit scene of bands stretching from Gainesville to Boston to Los Angeles to, um, Oregon, loomed into the spotlight. Their shadows overtook and made irrelevant the neon and the auto-tune.