Brand New's sophomore release on Triple Crown Records, "Deja Entendu", really pushes forth a new side of the band. With their first release, "Your Favorite Weapon", the band could have been easily judged as a typical pop-punk, emo band. So coming into this release, one might expect the same emo-punk album, but they are in for a surprise.
"Deja Entendu" reveals more mature music, especially lyrically. When someone hears a pop-punk record, they might expect to hear about the singer's past relationships and girls that he had been with. If you go into this album expecting this, you will be sadly mistaken. While Brand New still has a big pop-punk influence in their music, they really have shown that they can play more than just the typical punk chords.
"Deja Entendu" is unique, in the way that it can take you from a full fledged pop-punk song such as "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" to something mellow, acoustic, and soft in a song like "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot". This is most definitely not your typical pop-punk album, where they just use the same chords in different patterns.
Since their past release Brand New really has shown that they can put out a record that can be anything but the norm. "Deja Entendu" truly proves that it is possible for a pop-punk/emo band to show their fans that they are more than just a clique.
"Deja Entendu" is an amazing piece of work. It takes true talent to go from being stereotyped as a basic pop-punk/ emo band to really push through that and put a record out like this. Anyone who has heard "Your Favorite Weapon", will be in for a surprise, but I feel that it will be a very welcome one.
B+
