Album Review: Goldfinger – “The Knife”

It’s been nine years since the L.A.-based ska band Goldfinger has released an album, and the band has undergone some changes. Founded by lead vocalist John Feldmann, bassist Simon Williams, drummer Darrin Pfeiffer, and guitarist Charlie Paulsen, Goldfinger was one of the major players in the ska boom of the ‘90s alongside bands like Sublime, Less Than Jake, and Reel Big Fish.

Twenty-three years after the band was founded, Goldfinger is back with their seventh studio album–along with a whole new lineup. Feldmann carried on the Goldfinger legacy by turning it into a supergroup with Blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums, MxPx’s Mike Herrera on bass, and Story of the Year’s Philip “Moon Valjeen” Sneed on guitar. With a complete lineup overhaul, The Knife takes Goldfinger in a few new directions and really owns the band’s experiences over the years.

In the past, Goldfinger has edged outside of their usual ska instrumentation, casually sliding into more of a punk rock sound for a few albums. The Knife shows a new pop punk influence. Not surprising, considering that Feldmann spent some of that nine year gap between records producing albums for pop punk favorites Good Charlotte, All Time Low, and 5 Seconds of Summer.

Album opener “A Million Miles” is an anthemic track about feeling like you’ve fallen behind, exhibiting self deprecation that stops just shy of emo. Album standout “Put the Knife Away” compares words to a knife to express frustration with a loved one. “Always right you’re never wrong/Telling me I don’t belong/Just put the knife away and try to listen, to listen,” Feldmann sings over double-time guitar and drum work. Frankly, the more contemplative “Beacon” sounds like you could find it on an older Yellowcard album.

Older fans need not fear, however; Goldfinger hasn’t completely abandoned their ska roots. “Tijuana Sunrise” opens on some languid horn work and continues reggae beats to explore the memories made in Mexico. “Liftoff,” which could be the ska successor to a song like R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It,” also relies more on the horn section and reggae tones to declare that they’re ready to go through anything and everything.

Lyrically, nostalgia plays a major role on The Knife. Songs like “Get What I Needed” and “Tijuana Sunrise” examine past experiences, both about growing up in California and visiting Mexico with a former loved one. “Get What I Needed” has even more of a nostalgic bent to it; with its insistence that everything will be all right and that sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself, it sounds like a mature answer to their 1997 single “Superman.” “See You Around” wouldn’t be too out of place among summer classics like “Summer of ‘69” and “The Boys of Summer,” making it the perfect addition to your end of summer playlist.

Experience comes from age, and Goldfinger isn’t really shy about theirs. “Am I Deaf?” comes early in the album with some brutal honesty about their age. It’s a super catchy track that immediately throws their age and questioned relevancy in listeners’ faces, challenging the music industry’s ridiculous age issues. “Sometimes I feel so old yeah/Am I deaf? Or am I just a little left of what they listen to today?” Feldmann sings, fairly confident in his relevancy. This defiant tone continues in “Don’t Let Me Go,” in which Feldmann sings, “Listen up, this ain’t a comeback song/Cause I’ve been here all along/You could say I lost my voice/But I have always made the choice.” The message is clear: Goldfinger is still around for their fans, even if other people stopped paying attention.

The one true misstep is “Orthodontist Girl,” the clap-happy pop punk track that describes the sexual tension felt during an orthodontic exam. Yes, that’s right. Feldmann sings, “She’s my little orthodontist girl/Living in a sterile world/Back lid, rubber glove, paper mask love/She’s my little ortho girl…Yeah with your glove on, it’s like you’re inside me/Yeah that turns me on…” The literal nature of the song makes it sound more like a parody of a song that you might find on TV rather than an actual song. The ridiculousness of the lyrics takes you out of the listening experience, since you end up too busy questioning whether or not it’s real.

Overall, The Knife goes in a few different directions. Besides “Orthodontist Girl,” all of the songs are solid tracks. Many are quite repetitive, especially in the choruses, but they end up being catchy rather than annoying. It is interesting to see the blend of pop punk and ska on this album; rather than blend the two styles together, the band seems to alternate between the two genres musically while their words remain fairly consistent. Lyrically, the album’s message seems to be an even split between nostalgia, self deprecation, and a refusal to let anyone define them by age or anything else. Goldfinger fans will find a decent amount to like on here, while newer fans might be intrigued by their newer pop punk edge. The Knife would be a solid album to sing along to live or blast in your car on the way to the beach.