Golden Mixtape

Sitting here on a Tuesday night with The Voice in the background, I already know who’s won and I’m disappointed. No need to go on a tangent about why I dislike the winner of season three, so instead of that, I’ll switch my focus to another country; the UK. This week a band from over yonder followed Golden Mixtape on Tumblr and I had to see what they were all about…I kind of dug their pop punk sound and was like hey, let’s share this with some people. So I bring you ROAM and their album No Common Ground.

What’s a record if there isn’t a song or two about a relationship gone wrong? ROAM wouldn’t know because they have their fair share of hurt hearts on No Common Ground. “Variable” and “Set the Standards” seem to take care of matters of the broken heart. Both are quick paced and after just a few listens, you swear you know the words and are singing along. While most of the album has a light feel, “Compass” did offer up somewhat of a harder intro, but then softened up as the song played on. Lyrically, relationships aside, the guys of ROAM focus on bigger things in life. “Compass” seems to be a song about discovering one’s self, and “Naivety” is more complex than I gave it credit for the first time through. With a second and third listen it became my favorite song due to the concepts of life and death.

Musically speaking though, if you’re a fan of Set Your Goals, then listen up because ROAM might be their baby brothers from across the pond. ROAM sounds like SYG, if they dropped Jordan and just kept the little fellow Matt on board. For the tracks that really sounded like a mini (is it possible to get smaller than that guy?) version of Matt, listen to “Set Your Standards” and “Naivety.”

Thanks to a casual encounter via Tumblr, ROAM led me to avoid ranting about The Voice. Although if you stumble upon my Twitter or Facebook, you can read my thoughts on the matter…Nevertheless, thanks ROAM for giving me a reason to introduce you to some people who might not have been familiar with No Common Ground. So if you like Set Your Goals then get ROAM’s new album, out now.