Mixtapes: Ordinary Silence

Since the dawn of the album, fans have incessantly clamored for artists to recreate the nostalgia of their first LP. Rather than embracing progression or experimentation, listeners have, for the most part, lamented a group’s decision to push the boundaries of their sound and abilities. With Ordinary Silence, the sophomore album from Dayton, Ohio’s Mixtapes, the band gives their fans exactly what they said they wanted — and it’s not pretty. 

A year removed from the release of their debut album, Ordinary Silence is nothing short of a rehashing; an unremarkable effort in scrappy pop-punk redolent of NOFX and ’90s-era Lookout! Records signees that shows little to no development, and is at times derivative of itself. Nevertheless, Ordinary Silence isn’t all bad — in-fact, it’s quite decent. The guys and girl in Mixtapes are a talented bunch of young musicians adding more than effortless bombast to the pop-punk genre. Branded by their stream-of-conscious approach to songwriting, male/ female dual-vocal delivery, and a prolific output of singles, splits and EPs over a short three years, Mixtapes have carved out a comfortable niche for themselves in modern pop-punk. Unfortunately, the band proved to be too comfortable this go-around, as Ordinary Silence plays tired and disappointing, considering the group’s strong track record thus far.