Every so often a pop-punk single comes along that is so absolutely infectious that it can take you away from whatever is going on and into a pure musical bliss feeling, even if only for two or three minutes. When that moment's over and it drops you out and leaves you wanting more, the only solution is to listen to the track again and again and again.

This happened for me several times over the years. Examples I can immediately think of would be the Living End's "Growing Up (Falling Down)", the Epoxies' “Need More Time”, and Less Than Jake's “Great American Sharpshooter”. It’s been years since this has happened, but you can now add the Copyrights' “Crutches” to this list. The song has a deadly catchy anthemic sound that is so often attempted but rarely perfected. It’s exactly what pop-punk is supposed to be about, rebellious, powerful, personal, and fun. It’s exactly the kind of feel-good summer song you can imagine driving around with your friends blaring out the car windows.

The remaining tracks on this teaser single for the forthcoming North Sentinel Island are exclusive demos, and are not nearly as catchy; but you wouldn't expect them to be. After all, this is the Crutches single—we wouldn't want the followup tracks to outshine the title track. That said, they don’t lack in quality either. If I have to criticize (this is a review, after all) I would say if anything, the jump into “Current Event” immediately following “Crutches” on the digital version is very jarring, just due to the speed the song kicks off at. If this were my first punk record I would likely be put off by the switch at first, but then sold by the end of the track.

Technically, the EP is nothing groundbreaking. There are no dazzling basslines or groundbreaking chord progressions that will cement it into history. It is, however, a tight and fun intro to a fun band and a worthy ambassador to pop-punk.