There is an urgency in Taking Back Sunday’s new self-titled album that is disarming but hardly unexpected. The Long Island, N.Y., quintet has honed its Pop/Punk sound to a razor’s edge over the past decade, but TBS’s latest iteration is a familiar blast from its past.
Taking Back Sunday’s eponymous fifth album marks the return of guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper, who were members on TBS’s debut full-length, 2002’s Tell All Your Friends. Both left in 2003 to form Straylight Run. In a wild example of synchronicity, TBS drummer Mark O’Connell contacted Nolan and Cooper last year, hours after they had officially shelved Straylight Run.
“Mark had been thinking about this, and started talking to Adam (Lazzara) and Eddie (Reyes),” Nolan says. “He talked to Shaun and got in touch with me. That set the whole thing in motion and we started reconnecting and discussing the possibility. Maybe Mark knew we were wrapping up Straylight Run, but I don’t think so. It was strange timing.”
Taking Back Sunday performs Sunday at Bogart's with Thursday, Colour Revolt and The New Regime. Go here to read Brian Baker's full Sound Advice.
