Everywhere you look on Rise and Shine's The Anthems of Summer, you'll find one recurring object.

Lighthouses.

I believe that they call that symbology, though I don't really know of that's something I'd agree with. There's definitely nothing "dark" about their music, literally or proverbially, but as far as pop-punk, they certainly aren't a shining beacon of hope. The one reoccurring feeling I get from these guys is that they're emulating the Ataris. Both in sound and lyrical matter, the sounds of early Ataris recordings are sprinkled all over the band's twelve songs. And considering the amount of time I spent in high school listening to that band, I suppose that works in the favor of Rise and Shine. Where maybe I'd have been more critical, I'm letting some things go by the wayside.

For many, the vocals of Dan Wilburn are going to be a point of contention. They're a bit rough around the edges, and there's not really the melody that Kris Roe would put into his songs that fans have come to expect. Even so, I can't help but feel the two bands are extremely similar. There's just that certain intangible something that won't let the Ataris leave my head when I listen to this band. The guitar and bass work also conjure up some thoughts of the California natives, in the way that there's a more increased space to really let loose at times, rather than sticking to a stringent three-chord guideline. "Late Than Never" exemplifies this, all the while exposing the main issue I have with the album as a whole: Length.

It's just too damn long. Fifty three minutes of pop-punk is just more than I care to take in with one sitting, and it's not even that there's a lot of songs, just that those twelve songs often run far longer than is at all necessary. A good portion of these would be great tracks if they were just cut off around the three-minute mark, but instead they venture into four, five, or even six-minute territory. That's simply too long, and while it may even be alright to occur once or twice, only three songs are less than four minutes.

I can tell that these guys honestly put some heart and effort into these songs, it's almost immediately evident, but they're just too long-winded, plain and simple. Better luck next time for these guys; they've got some light to work with, now it's just a matter of narrowing the scope.