The Murmurations is a band that consists of Tyler Damerell (lead guitar/backing vocals), Jamie Drake (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), and Sean Woodridge (drums/backing vocals). On their new album Kids, the Fort Wayne trio wanted to record an “homage to adolescence and rock n’ roll the way it used to be.” I’m not about looking back, really. Someone once said, “It’s the same as it ever was,” and I think no matter the decade, rock n’ roll remains the same, just different faces and a few different chord changes. 

But The Murmurations are bound and determined to give us a rock album we didn’t know we needed. Waxing ecstatic about adolescence, writing pop rock tracks that are equal parts big riffs and big melodies, and not shying away from earnest ballads, Kids is a love letter to the feels we had growing up, cranking the boom box to ten. The tracks aspire to be arena anthems, so get that lighter out and put your hand in the air. 

What do you get on Kids? Well, the 14 tracks span from chugging arena rock to ballads and everything in-between that played on both classic rock and alternative radio in the ’90s. From the tip of the hat to Foreigner with album opener “Boombox Heroes,” to the nostalgia-laden rock ballad “Bumblebee Girl,” to the crunchy pop punk of “Drive In,” this Fort Wayne trio wants to take you on a radio dial tour of pop rock’s past. 

The album as a whole feels like a nostalgia trip, from track titles like “Less Than Zero,” “Truth or Dare,” “We Ruled The World,” and “Polaroid Pictures,” to the mixtape album cover and power chord crunch, we’re taken on a trip back to where singer Jamie Drake finds his comfort zone. That comfort zone sounds like the late ’80s and early ’90s: touches of The Smithereens, Soul Asylum, and even Monster-era R.E.M. (especially on “Best Friends”). 

If you grew up pre-CD burner and remember making mixtapes in a cassette deck, or sat patiently through hours of terrible videos on MTV to dub just one, then you’ll find something to dig on The Murmurations’ Kids. If not, you may still be surprised.