Bad Habits

Album Review

After playing the 2010 Alternative Press Tour and 2011 Vans Warped Tour, frontman David Ryan Strauchman changed up his style by trimming off his swoopy bangs and growing a beard, but this was no indication that his band was moving in a new folky direction. Every Avenue remain as emo pop as ever, and Bad Habits continues right where Picture Perfect left off — with clean, Auto-Tuned production and upbeat singalongs about relationships in the burner. Bad Habits isn’t weighty enough to be a true concept album, but drugs and booze come into play often. Strauchman rarely glorifies partying, singing instead with regret about his bad habits, just as he does when he’s reflecting on breakups. While introspective in nature, the songs are sung with pep, even when he questions a lover’s devotion or mourns another night drinking alone. All in all, Bad Habits is pretty typical contemporary mainstream pop-punk fare, slickly recorded, and divided evenly between anthemic arena rockers and festival-friendly power ballads.