Happy VD!

The Exploding Hearts

Guitar Romantic

2003

We don't have a numerical rating scale here at the Red Skull, but if we did, this album would get a perfect score. A+, 2 thumbs up, 6 strings strung, 10/10, 50 hail mary's, whatever. These kids from Portland put together a flawless album, an album to warm the heart of even the most cynical reviewer. Every tune is simply dripping with pop hooks and flirty guitar fills everywhere you look. It's no surprise to see the crawdad-stained fingerprints of King Louie Bankston all over this album. He co-wrote most of the songs and added his skills on keyboard on several of them. Louie's involvement alone is enough to signify this as a pop-punk gem. What brings the album to new heights is where the able musicians were able to take Louie's I-IV-V rhythms. Never content to let them stand as they are, every track is positively teeming with guitar licks that would make Andy Summers cry.

Guitar Romantic is the absolute perfect title for this album. It's an album to crush to. It's an album you draw from for the very first mixtape for your new love interest. It's the album you listen to on your way to pick her up and the album stuck in your head when you move in for your first kiss.

Sadly, it's also the bittersweet album of the ending summer. On their way back from signing with Lookout! records, a car accident killed three of the members of the band, all in their early 20's. They all had much more to contribute and it's a shame we'll never hear it.

Pay tribute to this awesome band and fall in love again by getting yourself a copy of Guitar Romantic