To be completely honest, I had no idea what to review with the very little time I had to do so; dedicating an hour to two towards a movie wasn’t an option. I looked up albums that had recently been released, the only one that really stood out to me was Lonely the Brave by The Hope List. 

The band’s newest album, Lonely the Brave, is something I never would’ve listened to prior to this opportunity. I can only describe it as punk rock. Personally, I am a fan of rock and roll or classic rock but never punk rock. However, The Hope List has made me wonder if it’s time for me to branch out to newer types of music.

Their album consists of 11 new songs released on January 22, 2021. By far, my favorite song featured in the album was “Bright Eyes.” Unlike the rest of the songs produced, it was the most upbeat song on the album. I thought it was inspired by how they changed from slow songs to fast and cheery, mixing it up while making me wonder what kind of song was coming up next.

One song that was on the album was called “(Untitled),” and it baffled me when I found out it was not a fluke in the system. I’m not exactly sure why the song was included in the album, but I still enjoyed it. It didn’t have any words in it, but I still enjoyed listening to the song. 

“(Untitled)” seemed to be background music; it still kept me interested with a remarkable build-up in the middle of the song that made me wish it was an actual song—I think it would’ve been fantastic.

The other song that stood out to me beyond the others was “Keeper.” The instrumental experimentation vividly reminded me of something I would hear in a classic rock song, but the words are really what separated this song from the others. 

The lyrics were portraying the speaker cheating on their significant other and keeping it a secret from them whilst telling lies to cover it up. The speaker is trying to figure out why they need her and explaining that it’s because she’s the keeper of their heart. No matter what happened, they still need her in their life, but they can’t figure out how to live with themself after cheating on her a handful of times.

Lonely the Brave produced many magnificent songs in their newest album, giving me a variety of different songs which I can only describe as incredible. So far, I have listened to the album approximately four times on loop; their music speaks to me with the wide variety of meanings behind their lyrics. 

After looking into the lyrics, I’ve learned that this band has depth with what they’re singing, and they put a lot of emotion into their songs. This is evident while listening to them.

The Hope List has absolutely opened my eyes to new genres of music that I’ve never experienced before and will inspire me to go out of my comfort zone more when it comes to bands I’ve never heard of. If all of the new albums I listen to surpassed my expectations like Lonely The Brave did, I would be absolutely ecstatic.