Album Review: Laugh Until It Hurts – The Fifty

The Fifty recently started playing house band every other Wednesday at Fifth Avenue. On their latest record Laugh Until It Hurts, the five-piece don’t really give you any reason to laugh, but they do offer up some piano-heavy rock.

On opening track “There Are Things”, prominent Joy Division-esque basslines make way for synthesizers served à la The Killers. They continue with the groovier New Wave route on songs like the funky “The Fight”, but overall The Fifty roll with more of a gentler sound. Songs like “The Life & Times of Page Madison” and “Mature For My Age” are more straightforward pop exemplary of the record, and there are a few songs that delve into power ballad territory, like “Shelby, West Virginia” or the barely-electrified closer “Saddle Sores”.

At 9 songs and 30 minutes, most of the songs are around the longer than average 4 minute mark, meaning they’re a little more meandering and complex than you’d expect from a pop-rock record. That said, the album is still very accessible to most anyone familiar with modern alternative rock.

Featured Track:
“The Fight”