Album #101 : Millencolin - Pennybridge Pioneers

Millencolin

Pennybridge Pioneers (2000)

My first exposure to Swedish punk funsters Millencolin came during a fairly typical late teens/early 20s Friday night ritual - copious consumption of beverages at somebody's house (typically a good mate's wetland area, which was resplendent with outdoor covered area). Punk and ska would typically fill the air, and Millencolin's album For Monkeys (not to mention their compilation The Melancholy Collection) would frequently be played. Now modern punk has never really been my thing, but I remember being won over by the highly melodic nature of their music, as well as the sheer catchy fun of it all.

The band have always had a big following in Australia, but with their fourth album, Pennybridge Pioneers, they really hit the big time. Their first album to go gold anywhere, the album established Millencolin as one of the world's most popular punk groups (even if it had taken a deviation from their established skate punk sound to do so.)

The Album

It may not be the frenzied skate punk tinged with hints of 2-Tone ska of their earlier efforts, but what the band have done on Pennybridge Pioneers is replace the frenzy with maturity. A number of the songs are slower and more fleshed out, sonically, and there's even a heartfelt ballad at the end of the album. However, despite these mild changes, the songs are still unmistakably Millencolin, full of the vim and vigour that the group so typically convey in their work.

There's also a refreshing simplicity to the band's sound - there isn't a great reliance on studio trickery or overdubbing instruments (though there are a couple of tracks with some rather prominent multi-tracked harmony backing vocals), it is pretty much as you'd get live. All of the songs (bar one) are driven by powerful, catchy riffs, and there's even some fleeting, simple solos to flesh out a number of the tracks. While that makes it difficult to really deconstruct the songs themselves from a musical point of view, it's also part of the band's charm, and it gives you the sense that Millencolin are about the whole package of music and lyrics together.

Lyrically, the songs on Pennybridge Pioneers deal with a wide array of themes, and in my view it's where the album really shines. There are songs that reflect on the bullshit high school experience of the 'social outcast' (No Cigar, The Ballad), reflective autobiographical songs from chief songwriter Nikola Sarcevic (Devil Me, Right About Now, Highway Donkey), songs about love (Hellman), loss (A Ten) and fear of leaving the familiar (Duckpond)....there's even a song written by Sarcevic about his motorbike (Fox). Impressively, Sarcevic is adept at turning the right phrase to suit the song, whether it's whimsy, humour, tenderness or anger required.

To the band's credit, the music often matches the themes and feelings of the lyrics. Fox uses an uptempo, skippy riff structure to convey a sense of fun and freedom; The Ballad, unsurprisingly, starts off as an acoustically-driven, emotionally evocative song, and this evocative feeling is not lost even when the band kick in fully; and the materialistic Material Boy is accompanied by a carefree skate punk style aesthetic. It's even more evidence that this is where the group's material really showed that growing musical maturity.

The Verdict

I've found it hard to write this review. Pennybridge Pioneers is just such an even and likable album that it's difficult to really break down. Additionally, the sheer fun of Millencolin's sound means that you don't bother thinking too deeply about the songs, you simply enjoy them.

Perhaps that is the biggest praise I can give this album. It's just a whole heap of fun from start to finish. If you don't have Millencolin in your collection, I can thoroughly recommend starting here, then moving backwards (before moving forwards again). They are one punk band that I think everybody can (and should) enjoy.

My rating: ****

Standout Tracks

Tough to choose just three, but I'll go for:

Fox

Devil Me

Penguins and Polarbears

Tomorrow, it's an English guitar pop debut from a band that never hit such lofty heights again (well, they did, albeit briefly, with one song from their sophomore release).