It's too late for emo's stragglers who have seemingly been swallowed up in a backwash of warmed-over pop punk. Of course, the Get Up Kids had their eye on the door long before the culture cops closed the party down and opened a Hot Topic. Like fellow pioneering peers the Promise Ring, the Kids said their goodbyes two years ago with the release of On a Wire, eschewing the roaring guitars and minor chord lovesick elegies in favor of gentle, straightforward pop rock with a strong '60s influence.
Their latest, Guilt Show, continues to lean on the band's strengths -- big, chewy hooks, tight, crisply delivered arrangements and soaring backing harmonies -- while broadening the scope of their newfound pop predilections. If On a Wire was a stripped-down answer to years of loud guitars and touring, then Guilt Show is a fond backward glance at the punchy power chords that attempts to reconcile this long-held passion with rich, fleshy compositions. If not as immediately winning as the last album, it's certainly more sonically adventurous, which is essential if they're to avoid becoming a pop cultural artifact like mullets, leggings and kids in cardigans.
