By Tom Collins
Staff Writer

Over the years, nothing has caught music fans more off guard than when a band or artist suddenly changes their sound. From Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 to Miley Cyrus transforming from the sweet, innocent, Hannah Montana into the crazed, controversial pop star singing about drugs and sex that we all know today, severe changes in an artist’s sound are nothing new.

When such a change occurs, the artist/band usually begins to appeal to a new audience, while sometimes alienating some of the fans of their older work. This is what Title Fight, a punk band from Kingston, Pa. will most likely do with their new album, “Hyperview”, which came out Feb. 3 on ANTI- Records. The band has changed directions drastically, shifting from their original melodic hardcore punk to a more mellow, indie rock inspired sound.

Title Fight formed in 2003 as a straight up punk band, but have always set themselves apart from their peers by blending in more melody and emotion with their songs. Their first two full length albums “Shed” and “Floral Green” contained songs with the regular, defining characteristics of punk rock: the short, energetic, fast songs, with heavy guitar riffs, shouted vocals from bassist/vocalist Ned Russin and pounding drums.

In addition to the punk songs, however, these albums also had several, slower, more melodic songs with cleaner vocals sung by guitarist Jamie Rhoden. These acted more as intros or transitions between the heavier songs, but still demonstrated that Title Fight could fare just as well making other types of music. On “Hyperview”, the group have not only expanded on this style, but have also almost completely abandoned the original sound they are known for.

Throughout the entire album, a distorted guitar is barely ever heard, with the band opting for more ambient, clean, reverb drenched guitars, with various phasing and flanging effects. Ned Russin, who did most of the vocal work on their past albums, only lends his signature hoarse yells to one song, “Rose of Sharon”, while Jamie Rhoden provides his more melodic singing for the rest of the album. This alone makes it hard to believe that one is listening to the same band.

On tracks like “Rose of Sharon” and “Chlorine”, the band still retains the speed and energy of their previous work, but with indie rock style guitar riffs that sound more like something out of a Modest Mouse song than a run-of-the-mill punk song. “Mrahc” and “Trace Me Onto You” open with strummed chords reminiscent of late 80s/early 90s genre defining indie rock like Dinosaur Jr. or The Pixies, while the melancholy “Murder Your Memory” and “Rose of Sharon” sound more stylistically similar to the original Title Fight sound, yet are still very different. The emotional “Your Pain is Now” is sure to scare away fans of the band who are afraid to branch out from the loud, power-chord driven punk they’ve grown to expect from Title Fight.

Whether or not this change from punk titans to indie rock kings will be permanent for Title Fight remains to be seen, but it does prove that Title Fight have much more to offer than the average three chord punk band. “Hyperview” showcases the band’s wide array of influences, and displays their talent as musicians and songwriters.

True fans are sure to at least appreciate the band’s desire to grow as musicians, while casual, close-minded fans are sure to hate it. Music fans not usually interested in punk rock may be drawn in by the more accessible indie rock sound of the record. Fan of the band or not, “Hyperview” truly offers a little bit of something for everyone, from angry, jaded punks to elitist, hipster indie-heads and everything