First off, I’d like to apologize for the groan-worthy title, and for not having posted in the past week (I was surprisingly busy). Anyway, I picked up Less Than Jake’s GNV FLA when it came out a few weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out what I think about it since. Like I talked about, it sort of marks a comeback for this band and a return from overproduced pop to their ska/punk roots. It’s a funny album in how it starts off with this mindset, and then the concept seems to fade away as the album goes on, only showing up sporadically here and there, and then it ends before you realize it. It’s certainly not a return to the sounds of, say, Pezcore or Losing Streak… it sounds to me more like Anthem, but with more horns and a little less focus.

1. City of Gainesville – Like I said, the album starts off with seemingly clear intentions to dive right into a return to ska with a slow-paced ska number, complete with their usual “I’m not doing anything with my life” lyrics. It’s pretty unassuming at first, but it’s catchy and grows on you sooner than you’d think.
2. State of Florida – Basically the second half of City of Gainesville, kind of like The Brightest Bulb Has Burnt Out/Screws Fall Out off of Anthem. It’s louder, faster, and hornless. Roger and Chris practically alternate lead vocals mid-verse, and the chorus is insanely catchy. This song and “Gainesville” work together to set up a loose concept for the album and it works well and gets the album off to a great start, even if it’s basically the same concept as on the majority of their albums…
3. Does the Lion City Still Roar? – One of the albums strongest tracks. A minor key, ska epic driven by powerful performances from basically every instrument, especially the horns. This song best captures the “return” that appears on this album.
4. Summon Monsters – I like this song too, although it’s definitely more Anthem sounding than most of the songs here, which may or may not be a good thing. I think the horns could’ve showed up more, but the heavy guitar presence on the song works pretty well.
5. Abandon Ship – This one’s kinda weak. A little too poppy and forced sounding, especially with the horns, which work well, but don’t seem to really fit in with the rest of the song… or each other.
6. Handshake Meets Pokerface – At first it’s a little disappointing, especially given the awesome name, but it turns out being one of the album’s catchiest songs (and the first song off GNV FLA I found myself humming in public while people stare at me…) and has great horns and chorus (it reverses the traditional “ska verse, punk chorus” format and, like I said, it’s good and it’s catchy). It’s also interesting to note at this point that this is only the third song on the album that actually incorporates ska…
7. Settling Son – This one is surprisingly dark and intense to the point where it strikes me more like a metal song. Again, either you like this or you don’t, although I doubt anyone will like the backing vocals that much… they just don’t work. It has an impresive guitar solo/hook/thing though.
8. Malachi Richter’s Liquor’s Quicker – More filler with an Anthem feel to it and horns that enter halfway through.
9. Golden Age of My Negative Ways – This one also has a slightly forced sound to it, like it’s trying too hard to be ironically happy sounding. It’s also surprisingly short…
10. The Space They Can’t Touch – …and then this song seems like a continuation of it. Which isn’t that good. The fourth ska song to show up on the album. The chorus is a little overproduced and the vocals are a tad naueseating.
11. Conviction Notice – A lyrically angry and musically cheery ska song. This one’s a better song than the couple of songs leading up to it, but it’s nearly ruined by the “na na na na” chorus. It still turns out nicely anyway, since that’s really the only major flaw.
12. This One’s Gonna Leave a Bruise – The second half of the album’s best song. A nifty guitar hook and horn lines, and both actually work incredibly well together playing at the same time during the bridge and outro. Also, this song has some “Whoa whoas”. Haven’t heard those in a while.
13. The Life of the Party Has Left the Building – the last ska “song” on the album, though it’s only a brief, 39 second track. Personally though, I think that an extended version of this would have made a much better final track than the next song. It’s a slow, mournful, and hazy song, and works great after the speed-frenzied “Bruise”, sort of like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” after “Holiday”
14. Devil in my DNA – It’s catchy and pretty good, which is expected since Less Than Jake has closing numbers down to a science by now. It doesn’t seem to fit after “Life of the Party” though, which is weird since that song was pretty much a short transition. It also uses the same repeat, fade out hook that they used to close their last album In With The Out Crowd, though I think it might actually have worked better on that album.

Overall, I like GNV FLA and I’ll recommend it, but as far as a “return to form that could be called the ‘traditional’ Less Than Jake sound, complete with their trademark bouncy ska grooves and horns galore” that “comes full circle with the band’s beginnings”, it falls short. The horn section shows up on all but two or three songs, a marked improvement over recent albums, but less than half the album’s songs are actually ska. While the album only has a few tracks that are genuine duds, there’s only a few great songs that really stand out, and they become increasingly spread out as the album progresses. Lyrically, the album seemed to connect far less than their others did, but this album seems like one that grows on you, so that might turn around.

Since I refuse to describe something as “good but not graet”, I’ll instead say that it’s a strong and catchy album that I definitely enjoyed, but it needs a few more standout songs that Less Than Jake’s best albums definitely did have in comparison.