Artist: Hunx and His Punx
Title: Too Young to Be in Love
Release Date: March 29 2011
Label: Hardly Art
Tracks:

01 Lovers Lane- 9
02 He’s Coming Back- 9
03 Keep Away From Johnny- 9
04 The Curse of Being Young- 8
05 Too Young to Be in Love- 8
06 If You’re Not Here (I Don’t Know Where You Are)- 8
07 Bad Boy- 7
08 Tonite Tonite- 7
09 Can We Get Together?- 7
10 Blow Me Away- 8

Comments: Firstly, let me just say I apologize for the late arrival of this review, I’ve been a busy beaver this semester. But beaver aside, y’all know how much we love Hunx and His Punx on this site, so without a doubt this is a major musical moment of the year for KLYAM and me personaly. Now, to the actual record itself. Fans should know upfront that this is NOT GAY SINGLES! If you’re like me, you fell in love with that record and sing along to it in your underwear almost every day… okay maybe you’re not like me then. But, going into Too Young, I still had GS in my mind and frankly it made enjoying this record a little bit difficult, initially. So, I gave it more and more listens and it definitely has grown on me. This is not a criticism and may just be my personal taste, but Hunx being a grower is such an odd concept to me. The immediacy of GS is more than evident, but with Too Young, it took sometime for most of the tracks to get stuck in my head. Which is strange, because every track on here has a strong pop hook and is easily listenable. In any case, I am really digging most of the songs on this LP, particularly “Lovers Lane”- a very solid opener. As noted in my review of that song, the group makes a significant departure in sound (not a complete volte face), but significant enough to be noted as most have. Instead of bubblegum, the 60s, Phil Spector- Girl Group is fleshed out much more, and seriously they capture it amazenly. The vocals are almost straight out of those old groups like The Shangri-Las, The Crystals, etc, and like former, they also have added this “teen tragedy” element to their songs- i.e. Hunx’s boy being killed at Lovers Lane or the suicidal implications, if I’m not mistaken of the powerful closer “Blow Me Away,” just about as serious I would ever desire Hunx to be. So, absolutely, for better or for worse (mostly better) the band has ventured into new territory on this record. The production sounds excellent, the singing (mostly the women of the group, especially the amazing Shannon Shaw) stands out in particular. Not to diss Hunx, because his vocals are great as well! The songs themselves are not as in your face as those on GS- it’s a lot more laid back, innocent, and closer to the sounds of the 60s I mentioned earlier. Hunx, Mr. Seth Bogart himself, in many ways takes the spotlight off of him and sort of becomes just another member, making it feel a lot more like an altogether Rock and Roll band experience. So, in that sense, this is positive, but at the same time, I miss that overt, eccentric Hunx personality from before. It’s still here, but less pronounced. I can’t say this is a flaw of the record, but a blow to my tastebuds for sure. Overall, the songs are pretty solid, but not amazing. A lot of my enthusiasm is pure bias, because I love the band and this particular style of music. Toward the end of the record, I feel like the music has run its course and songs like “Bad Boy” (awesome music video to check out!), “Tonite Tonite,” and “Can We Get Together,” while catchy and decent aren’t in the same league as those heard earlier on the album. But, not to go out on a sour note, my last and best point: the great thing about this record and this band is that they are having fun when they play their music and this joy truly comes through on the record- there’s a certain warmth in the recording, in particular for me on “Keep Away From Johnny,” I love when they all sing “And I threw my love away from you, away from you, away from youuuu.” Haha, I think those are the words.

Grade: 8/10- a respectable and fun studio debut!