The '59 Sound

Here's Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon on "Old White Lincoln": "I always dreamed of classic cars and movie screens and trying to find some way to be redeemed." That about sums it up for these Jersey brats: redemption comes hand-in-hand with tailfins and Bogart. The Gaslight Anthem might work the Warped Tour mall-punk circuit, but they're not of it. Instead, they belong to an older breed of punk band, one we don't see to much anymore: Social Distortion, Alkaline Trio, fellow Jersey knuckleheads Bouncing Souls. These bands might be emotional, but they're about a million miles removed from emo, especially in the way that term gets tossed around now. These are the bands who sing in full-throated groan-man bellows, who unironically cover old country songs, who heroically keep the hair-grease industry afloat. The '59 Sound, the Gaslight Anthem's sophomore effort, comes steeped in retro signifiers: pinball, Audrey Hepburn pearls, your hightop sneakers and your sailor tattoos. One song is called "Film Noir" and another is called "Here's Looking at You, Kid", redundantly enough. But all this fuzzy-dice Fonzie nostalgia, this glorification of an imagined era this band isn't old enough to remember, isn't a cheap hook; it's an ingrained and sincere part of their identity. "I always kinda sorta wish I looked like Elvis," Fallon shrugs on "High Lonesome". And then, almost as an afterthought, "I always kinda sorta wished I was someone else."

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