The third formal effort from Keepsake arrives with a very notable change in focus. The Things I Would Say, the band's first full-length, is an exceptional hardcore record bathed in emo breaks, and includes "One Season Too Late," a superlatively effective and depressing acoustic ballad for the scorned lover. Needless to say, the band was quite stylistically well-rounded, but had a firm basis in the hardcore genre. On The End of Sound, we find a progression in the pop sensibility that brewed on the tracks of Keepsake's interim EP, She Hums Like a Radio, but to an extreme. My mind conjures an image of J.R.R. Tolkien's hairy-footed hobbits as I remark that both the music and lyrical style have gone "the way of the Promise Ring:" super-candy-pop emo music.

The hardcore of Keepsake's past has been practically eliminated; pushed to the background as what was once hardcore with pop sensibility transmogrifies into pop with hardcore sensibility. They obviously don't want to deny their roots, as is seen in the album's bookend tracks, cleverly entitled, "The Beginning of the End of Sound," and "The End of Sound." The songs form a cognitive framework of roughness for the disc, as Shane Halpern repeatedly roars, "We are the end of sound," I would suppose to imply the social relevance of the hardcore/emo genre and its followers. Despite the jumpy emo/hardcore track, "Wither," (also released on The Things I Would Say) screaming has been reduced to a definitive minimum, but the instruments show traces of their past sound in breakdowns and such, in a post-post-hardcore manner.

Considering the album's title and the subjects of former songs, I honestly expected lyrics to be a bit more prophetic in places, but Keepsake's new take suits them just as well. "We Should've Rode the Bumper Cars" is a grand song, and I revel in its cheesiness: "We'll talk for hours/I'll buy you flowers/You'll be my company." In a similar manner, the following two tracks, "Eight Months 'Till May," and "I Never Liked the Way You Danced," cause a sappy grin as my head bobs to the pop-licious beat. The guitars incorporate a metally, almost 80s-rock style at certain points, especially in the leads, that accents the songs' overall feeling oh-so-well. Acoustic strums are rampant across the recording, in pieces of songs, the acoustic, instrumental centerpiece, and "Sleep," where guitar and vocals are traced by strings. Included as well is a redone, more refined version of the fine little love song, "She Hums Like a Radio."

Keepsake's take on emo-rock is almost as good as their emo-hardcore. This disc certainly has a quality for mass appeal beyond that of the underground--the "good rock" quality. The End of Sound is one fine, listenable pop record, and boys and girls alike can perform the dance of joy to the themes of love and friendship. Make sure to turn to my review next week, where I'll use the word "pop" 100 times rather than a mere 50.