feels – Trophy Jump

Trophy Jump is an Croatian punk-rock band from Zagreb who’ve been around since about 2014. Feels is their latest album and was released on 22 February 2022.

I haven’t heard this band before, but I’m instantly intrigued when I hear the short opening track. The sound reminds me heavily of the Irish punk-band CHEWIE (previously Chewing on Tinfoil), and that is a good thing as that band has released some really good stuff. Throw in some Cheap Girls and Weezer vibes and you have this record.

The album opens strong and the first half is a really nice listen. It’s mid-tempo punk, not really pedal to the metal but more laid back. Nice melodies and the frontman has a good voice for the genre, although perhaps not really unique. The language is mastered well and I wouldn’t think of Croatia if I didn’t know. Lyrically it’s not on the political side but more about life as a 20-something, hanging out at parties with friends, drinking and doing some light drugs and also some relationship themes. I say doing drugs not in a “hey let’s do drugs”-way, but more as a way of hanging out with your friends or as a part of partying.

My main criticism for the album is that it might become a bit anonymous and repetitive towards the later half, and I kind of start to drift elsewhere a bit not really focusing and there’s nothing that really grabs my attention. A little bit of more variations in tempo could have been needed perhaps, or some more variations in the sound as it almost gets hard to keep the songs apart.

With that said, it’s a pretty well-produced and well written album, and if you’re a fan of the more laid-back punk that often comes out from the states, although I mentioned Ireland above so I guess that’s not exclusively true, you’ll probably enjoy parts of this. There are some nice songs that is worth having on your playlist if you like the genre. Stand-out tracks are Business Trip and Leather Couch, to mention a couple.