By Hannah Reid

Point North are a band that have so much passion, energy and just positive vibes through their music. ‘When all goes south, Point North’ is the bands mantra and it definitely fits well for them, and sums up what you would expect to hear from their debut album.

The album itself is a concept album, taking place in a different but similar reality to our own, and each song carries meaning behind it that takes you on a journey as you’re listening. We open up the album with the title track, ‘Brand New Vision’ featuring DE’WAYNE, which definitely sets a high bar for everything to come. It’s fun, full of energy and the melody just explodes through the speakers as you listen to it. It combines all the genres that they play with throughout their music and gives you a taste of everything they did – and they go at it full force.

‘Into The Dark’ is my personal favourite from the album, having already been listening to it for a few months since I accidentally came across it on Spotify and it’s been on my playlist ever since. It’s a super catchy and fun song with a great chorus and drop. It also features Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens which adds just that bit more fun to it. I love the melody and tune in this song, and it’s ultimately what got me more excited to see what this band could do.

‘Personal’ is the latest release from this album as a single, and it starts off with a slightly slower melody than what we’ve heard so far. It’s a bit softer and just one of those songs that you can happily sway along to as you listen. ‘A Million Pieces’ is a song just filled to the brim with such raw, unedited passion that had me hooked just listening to it. It’s mainly about self forgiveness and self love, and I think that’s why it got me so much listening to it.

Taking another turn within the album is ‘Lethal’, and after hearing the songs before it, it’s not what you would expect to come out of the band. It’s a really pleasant song with a nice catch and twist, combining the fast pace we’ve heard from them before. This is another favourite from the album as it just had me singing and dancing along, and it’s a song you could easily see being played live and getting a great reaction from the crowd. The lead single from the album, ‘Heartbeat’ starts off as near enough as you would think from a pop punk band, and it continues on throughout but adding in some synths and funky backing vocals, it takes the sound to a whole new height that is just addicting and you can’t stop listening. ‘Apologue’ is another slightly faster paced track that has the pop punk roots coming through which holds a lot of meaning and truth within the lyrics that you can’t help but relate to.

‘Distant’ is a slow track with heart felt lyrics that just bring you straight back home. The synths and backing vocals which do give it that almost otherworldly feel to the whole track, and you can get the concept they had coming through here a lot. With lyrics like “I never want to leave my home anymore” again it gives you that being on a different planet and almost not being able to get back. It’s a love ballad type song with that being homesick that everyone is aware of, and just wanting to get up and run back to the place you’ve grown up from. It’s just a beautiful song.

‘No One’s Listening’ has an almost hopeless feel to it, trying to get the frustration of literally no one hearing or listening to you, and trying to get that across. It’s a little bit darker than some of the other songs I previously listened to. We take a totally different turn from that song to the next one on the album, ‘Nothing Left To Lose’ which has a little bit more of an upbeat and slightly happier feel to it, but still keeps the drive and passion that has carried on through each and every song on the album.

The final track is called ‘Be The Same’, which again starts off in a way you don’t quite expect. The melody and lyrics are fun, and it’s another song you just find yourself swaying along to. It was a nice and uplifting song for the album to finish on, and again was just full of love for what the band themselves were doing.

The whole album was a joy to listen to, and I genuinely didn’t want it to end – I was always on the edge of my seat and waiting for the next song to start up and go. As I’ve said throughout, you can feel the passion and the drive the band had to produce the music they love to do. It’s a very truthful album which feels as though they’ve put only their own emotions and feelings into it.

It’s an album that I listened to a good few times and I couldn’t help but just really enjoy what was going on, and would be up there for some of the best new songs I’ve heard all year – and up there with a few others for my favourites of 2020.

  • ‘Brand New Vision’ is released on Friday (21 August). You can get your copy HERE.

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