leak of the week

Leaked: The Gaslight Anthem Are Still Catchy, Still Sad

The Gaslight Anthem, American Slang

Official release date: June 15

The Verdict: A good week for leaks continues today with the Gaslight Anthem’s third studio album, American Slang, hitting the file-sharing circuit. Gaslight fans will find it instantly recognizable, in a good, comforting, big-catchy-cleaned-up-punk-riffs and heartfelt-but-at-times-extremely-corny sing-along choruses kind of way. Everyone else will perhaps soon be forming their own opinions, as we can imagine the push from the Slang press rounds might well shove the New Jersey rockers toward mass exposure. The bad news? We’re a little concerned about front man Brian Fallon: Seemingly more so than ever before, Fallon’s obsessed with regrets, lost friends, broken hearts, missed opportunities, and just the general state of things plum done gone wrong (the chorus on “Old Haunts” goes “don’t sing me your songs about the good times/those days are gone and you should just let them go.”) Cheer up, Brian! You’re a young man who fronts a popular rock band about to release a great new album! Maybe your next album can have a song about how well you’ve stayed in touch with your buddies from grade school or something?

Leaked: The Gaslight Anthem Are Still Catchy, Still Sad