Dying Scene Album Review: Little Low – “Sunshine Guilt”

Despite being called Little Low, the energy on the Boston, MA band’s full-length debut is anything but that. Sunshine Guilt’s eight tracks deliver sharp, emotional pop punk that touch on love, loss, and those longing feelings in between. Little Low presents a fantastic record that runs twenty-two minutes long, but you’ll wish it was longer.

Sunshine Guilt opens with the song “Dark Beer Archives,” a great song about finding your footing in your mid-twenties. From the first chords, you get the impression that Little Low knows what it’s like to be stuck between adolescence and adulthood. “Stress Level Midnight” initially caught my eye due to its semi-reference to The Office, but I was happy to find an equally great song. The standout track for me was “Head in the Clouds,” but I also liked the slower pace of “Gloucester” and its addition of Ian Legge’s cello. Title track, “Sunshine Guilt,” is a nice bow on top of an optimistically dark album.

Despite its very emo title, Sunshine Guilt doesn’t wallow, it rocks. Drawing from the late 1990s and early 2000s pop-punk and emo, the album’s catchy riffs and power chords with drums that are very tom-heavy, with lyrics that can double as a therapy session, make for a great album. Mike Assatly’s drums would be manic if they weren’t so precise and full of energy. Christine Atturio and Tom Ciesluk’s guitars create a great sound with Brad Rheault’s bass and probably make my favorite pop punk album of the year so far. There are many ways to arrange pop-punk songs, and Little Low hits the target on all of them.

This album handles identity and self-worth well. Where others see pop punk as emotional potential unrealized, Little Low leans into its clarity. This album, these lyrics are about self-redemption and finding yourself. Whether you’re looking for catharsis or catch an honest songwriting, Sunshine Guilt is easily one of the best pop punk offerings of the year. It’s a great album from a band I hope to hear more from in the future. Check them out on Sell the Heart Records.