Ah, the full-length record that so many of us have been waiting for. After the disappointing lack of new material found on last year's Adventure, Nostalgia, and Robbery, fans were certainly ready for this record to come to light. Now on the more widely distributed Triple Crown label, Detroit's Fireworks are only now appearing to garner the attention that I think they have always deserved. I've always praised Fireworks for writing catchy, down-tuned pop-punk, and their ability to put so much weight on every progression that each song feels like a constant bridge.
I'll admit that I didn't think much of Fireworks the first time I heard them. I saw them jump on a Gilman show around the time they were releasing We are Everywhere, and none of it seemed very exciting to me. But I found that the appeal of this band lies in repeat listening, when you become familiar with the riffs and fall victim to their undeniable catchiness. Now, I could go and write an entire review explaining why Fireworks rises above other pop-punk bands, or how they are placed within the spectrum of the current sub-genre. But when it comes down to it, I really don't care. I'd rather judge Fireworks based on their own merit, and not the nuances of how much (obligatory band name) they have in their sound.
So we come to Fireworks' first full-length, All I Have to Offer is My Own Confusion. The album opens with "Geography, Vonnegut, and Me," an appropriately simple track that follows a more standard structure than usual. We also hear a great display of the vocal range of lead singer Dave Mackinder, who seems to bend and drag every note in just the right ways. The second track, "Come Around," sounds more like the Fireworks I know, but feels slightly restricted, as if the sting was taken out in the mixing process.
The tracks jump around a little more than I'd like, with only some of them striking that same frequency as We are Everywhere, but I'm careful with this statement. Fireworks has a tendency to hide their best progressions in places and songs that you would least expect. For example, "You've Lost Your Charm" starts out a little slow, but hits with one of the better choruses of this record. A few of these tracks may even prove to be among the best that the band has written, "Again and Again" being one of the strongest in my opinion.
You could write off Fireworks for contributing to an arguably dead horse of a musical style, but I think they deserve more than that. They're taking a sound that's been chopped up and fed to the wolves and making it their own again. Maybe it's my seasonable cycle of musical choices that draws me to a band like Fireworks. But regardless, this is a strong and catchy record that will easily get stuck in your head. They've proven the depth of their songwriting and I have no doubt that this record will take them far.
