Stereo Skyline - Stuck On Repeat

The Long Island music scene is the stuff of legend. Having given birth to such emo staples as Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, the competition is intense. Now, if Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory were to apply to a scene as competitive as the Long Island music scene, one would think that only the best bands would emerge onto the regional and national stages. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Just like everywhere else in the nation, it seems that, most of the time, pretty faces and cheesy pop come before sweat, hard work, and good music. Such is the case with blonde-haired, baby-faced Long Island quartet Stereo Skyline. On their debut full-length, Stuck On Repeat, the band delivers eight songs that, while somewhat catchy, contain as much substance and creativity as a negative post on AbsolutePunk.net.

The album begins with a revamped version of the song “Heartbeat,” which was first found on their self-titled EP. As expected, this version boasts a sugary gloss, and, despite it being a re-recording, manages to start Stuck On Repeat on a high note. Even more surprisingly, the next two tracks, “A Little More Us” and lead single “Tongue Tied” manage to somewhat follow up with some mildly entertaining verses and catchy choruses. However, it seems that in these cases, the amount of sugary production is a bad thing. The sugary glaze that these songs are caked in is much too saccharine, and it rids this band of the little smidgen of indie charm that their previous work had, leaving behind what comes off as soulless productions of the corporate music machine. Following these three tracks, the band falls into an uninspired rut. “Me & You” lacks much lasting value, and while “Chemistry” and “Over It” may hold some appeal for the teenybopper crowd, they will have little sway elsewhere. “Downtown,” surprisingly, has the potential to bring some life back into the album. However, the chorus is strikingly similar to The Maine’s “Everything I Ask For,” and the band’s lack of creativity does not go unnoticed. The album ends with “Back To The Future,” a song that boasts mundane verses and yet another chorus caked in sugar.

Stuck On Repeat, to put it bluntly, is not that great of an album. While the album does have some decent songs, any merit that could be given is blocked by the layers of sugar and production that producers SAM & Sluggo and Blake Healy have added onto the tracks. The band lose some brownie points themselves through their evident lack of creativity. Stereo Skyline is a band that has relied mostly on their looks to get them where they are. Unfortunately, it will also take them further. Hopefully, on their next outing, the band won’t hide behind so many layers of production, and will let the charm that was so prevalent on their EP actually shine through.