Nick Piunti “Temporary High”

Regular readers will know that we are great fans of Nick Piunti. He’s an artist who consistently delivers great power pop/pop rock tracks. So, with this new release, it’s probably just a case of finding out how good it is, rather than if we will like it.

Opener and title track “Temporary High” confirms that Nick remains on top form. Together with tracks like “No Return” and “Deep Freeze”, it just demonstrates how he has a knack of blending melodies with crunching guitars and sweet vocals. Songs like “You’re perfect And I’m Not” and “Blameless” are really just great pop songs. They manage to be catchy as hell without being overly saccharine.

Nick is what we would term a ‘proper songwriter’. But, by that, we don’t mean the usual morose singer/songwriter. We’re talking more along the lines of Elvis Costello or Butch Walker. There’s an air of quality to songs like “Contagious” and the Beatles esque “Keep Me Guessing”. There’s even the faint whiff of The Boss on “You Invented Hell”.

Leaving aside the irony that we were listening on headphones to “Headphones”, this song also sees a dip into social commentary. It shows that Nick isn’t content to just rest on his laurels. There’s a shift in the structure on this song which offers up a different style and sound to end the album.

So, as expected, Nick Piunti has released another great album. It again shows his ability to craft fine power pop songs that are a pleasure to listen to. Perfect listening material on a bright, sunny day (even though most of them will be cold in the UK for the next few months). If you love power pop/pop rock it’s another essential purchase and you should be doing all you can to share this release with your friends.