Listen & Forgive

iTunes Review

Transit’s third studio album finds the Boston quintet braiding punk-pop with indie rock and emo to create a collection of songs that sounds firmly rooted in the early ‘90s but propelled and inspired by living in the 21st century’s second decade. “You Can't Miss It (It's Everywhere)” opens sounding like a hypermelodic Superchunk. Over winding guitars and driving rhythms, Transit plays with emotional urgency as singer Joe Boynton sings in a nasal-toned voice recalling Mac McCaughan’s kid-with-hayfever inflections. The standout track “Long Lost Friends” casts a net covered with barbed hooks over clashing guitar melodies reminiscent of early recordings by Sunny Day Real Estate. In the song’s grappling chorus, Boynton’s lovelorn lyrics hint at the fact that Listen & Forgive is a breakup album. The title track follows with similarly catchy moments, as slightly detuned electric guitar arpeggios and an unforgettable chorus awaken a bygone time in college music, when plaid flannel shirts, pegged 501s, and thrashed Chuck Taylors were the uniform of bands that contrasted nearly discordant walls of sound with Velcro-catchy melodies.