We're all just kids who can't fill the shoes we never wanted to grow into."
Those are the words warbled by Yours Truly lead singer Jonathan Weber on "Kids," the seventh track of the Detroit band's latest offering, Brutally Honest.
While the album is technically Yours Truly's full-length debut and the members might refer to themselves as kids, this is far from their first rodeo, and the sound is very mature.
Brutally Honest doesn't listen like a debut, mostly because Yours Truly has been putting out EPs since the end of 2011. The new album is tight, both lyrically and musically, and fans of guitar-driven rock will appreciate the work.
Yours Truly lists Fall Out Boy as an influence, and it's easy to see why. Close your eyes on tracks like Slim to None and Middle of the Fall, and you could easily mistake Weber's steady croon for that of Patrick Stump.
The band didn't invent the sound they play; it's very reminiscent of several of the pop/punk/rock hybrids of the early 2000s (The Ataris and New Found Glory come to mind). Their sound might not be wholly original, but Yours Truly does it well, and every song on Brutally Honest reflects that.
Sure, they will draw comparisons to Fall Out Boy and others of that ilk, but what sets Yours Truly apart is a solid rock sensibility, where the former bands largely relied on the safety net of pop music. Where the others hitched their wagons to snappy hooks and tween-friendly lyrics, Yours Truly makes due with good old-fashioned rock musicianship.
Even if Brutally Honest is a debut more than two years in the making, it's a hell of a good record, and it proves that Yours Truly just might be the next big thing to come out of Detroit.
If, as their song eludes to, Weber and Co. still consider themselves kids, one thing is certain: The kids are more than alright.
