REVIEW: Wimps Continue To Be Mega-Fun on “City Lights”

God bless Wimps. Don’t ever let age, and everything that comes with it (parenthood, responsibility, increasingly frequent doctor’s visits) get in the way of playing an eternally youthful form of music. They’re smart cookies too - City Lights is exactly the same brand of fun, guileless, Calvinist punk rock that they’ve been proselytizing since they first started laying their tunes to tape a decade ago. This is not the type of music that requires resilient vocal chords or, you know, good knees. It just takes the urge to have fun. Wimps have that in droves here.

The songs here, just like on 2015’s Suitcase and 2018’s Garbage People, are crystal clean but not necessarily simple. The trio keeps you on your tones, pairing familiar chord changes with twists and turns that keeps it all engaging. It’s music made for a crowd, with all the requisite handclaps, tambourines, and sing-along choruses urging you to the next show. It’s also honest! Guitarist Rachel Ratner’s lyrics are funny and earnest, and they brilliantly embody the term “all-ages.” In one moment, she’s bed rotting on “Never Leave The House”; on another, she’s addressing her new motherhood on “Mom,” one of the hardest (and best) cuts on the record.

City Lights is just one more clinic showcasing Wimps’ mastery over their craft. It goes by like lightning and builds like a snowball barrelling down Mt. Rainier. There is literally nothing else to do but press repeat once it’s over.