Patch It Up and Go! – The Sensitives

Patch It Up and Go is the new album from The Sensitives, in my opinion one of the more underrated bands on the Swedish punk scene. The album is their fifth, following 2020’s Punch, and one of my favourites, 2017’s Love Songs for Haters.

The Sensitives are one of those bands that you instantly recognize the sound from. The dual male/female vocals, the mix of punk, rock-‘n’-roll and ska, all of those are still present, being showcased straight away in opener Goddamn. I do feel as if the band are leaning a bit more towards rock-‘n’-roll on this release, although the other ingredients are in the mix. The tempo is pretty varied, with the band bringing it down a bit at times, giving some nice breathers in between.

Lyrically The Sensitives has always been political a lot of the time, but the rock-themes are present in many songs on here, such as Love/Hate, La Petite Mort and Leaving Tonight, as well as more personal themes in songs as Learn From My Mistakes and Something to Die For. No matter the theme though, I feel it’s pretty well composed but perhaps not as instantly urgent as it’s been on other releases. By no means tame, but a bit more controlled and not as political. Bullshit, with its vegan message, being the clear exception there. My favourite on the album is Tear Down That Flag, its got variation in tempo, energy, back and forth dual vocals, all those things I love with this band.

What I feel is The Sensitives signum is that it has always been fun to listen to their music, and that feeling is largely intact on Patch It Up and Go. Varied and energetic songs, although I still hold some of their older albums in a bit higher regard personally. This album might be a little bit more of a grower given some more time though. I still don’t think fans of the band will be disappointed with this release.