THE GET UP KIDS

There Are Rules

thegetupkids.com

Three years after re-forming a band that started out during Bill Clinton’s first term, the Get Up Kids knew as well as anyone that they couldn’t return with yet another emo-pop album. They instead have chosen to lean heavily on synths and effects to avoid backsliding into familiar territory, creating their bleakest, spikiest, most electronic collection yet. The Kansas City quintet still works toward big choruses, but on highlight “Automatic,” the payoff is more Killers than Jimmy Eat World, and it follows verses that are full-on Gary Numan. The record is called There Are Rules, but really, the Kids only follow one: no looking back—unless it’s to 1979.