Boids – We Stalk Each Other Like Animals

Fans of just about any kind of punk rock are going to form a strong attachment to Montreal’s Boids very early on.  Like that friend who changes their fashion every hour and can pull off just about any combination of style, Boids tries on just about every hat in punk rock and wears it like it like their own.  The energetic four-piece’s full length, We Stalk Each Other Like Animals, combines old-school hardcore thrashers, melodic punk rock mashers with pop-punk hooks for a shockingly coherent, incredibly addictive debut.  

No one song on We Stalk Each Other Like Animals sounds like the last, yet each carries that distinct Boids mark.  Just put the very Riverboat Gamblers-esque “Paradise Wasted” alongside fourty-nine second OFF! inspired wonder “PBMF.”  The former marches along at a quick, sturdy pace, defined by its melodic chorus loops and sloppy vlocal slurs, while the latter twists the rusty knife of unconventional chords and barking 80’s hardcore.  With so much to give, songs like “Runaround” grind and irk like a visionary belting to an audience on a podium, then getting down and partying alongside their followers.  But the engagement only starts there, with the boys dimming the lights, reducing the tempo and amping up the bass for “Off We Go,” and flexing their guns for the shockingly strong melodic-punk-rock hooks carrying “Back In My Arms” and “Gamma Rays.”

Boids deserve a special shout out for their handling of unconventional chord progressions, particularly in the humorous conformist anti-anthem “Smartass.”  Aided by a near spoken-word delivery of a stop-n-go rant and the rise and fall of discordant notes, the track plays off an absorbing Decendents-like resemblance.  In fact, the album plays at somewhat of a 70-30 split between clean melody and experimentation, which seems to be right at Boids’ sweet spot.  We Stalk Each Other Like Animals doesn’t do any one thing better than another and it’s that consistency that ensures the songs don’t overshadow one another. 

Boids is the band Fat Wreck Chords has been trying to snag for over a decade with signings like The Flatliners and Dead To Me, but in this case Stomp beat them to it.  We Stalk Each Other Like Animals brims with so much potential and appeal for a broad audience without ever compromising the integrity of their laundry list of influences.  If the otherwise nonsense word Boids meant nothing to you before, then We Stalk Each Other Like Animals will surely expand your vocabulary.