Edinburgh pop-punk band Woes are releasing their hotly anticipated debut album Awful Truth on June 28 via label UNFD.

This ambitious foursome have merged their love of hip-hop and R&B with their pop-punk roots to produce this interesting offering. This is what their vocalist DJ calls, “a conscious effort to start expanding our sound”. This new sound leaves us with a brand new taste of what to expect from their upcoming live appearances throughout the rest of 2019.

The intro track ‘Boy’ is a mish-mash of sounds and gives us no clue what to expect from the rest of the album. It neither stands up as a song on its own nor suffices as a good intro to this eclectic album and I can’t help but feel we could do without it.

Never fear its onwards and upwards from here on in though with the next track ‘Fake Friends’ doing a much better job at entertaining the pop-punk masses. It’s both catchy and meaningful with DJ exclaiming, “not on your wavelength, no time for fake friends!”

Next up we have the obligatory song about a girl in the form of ‘Fancy’ where DJ asks said girl if she ever loved him and if it was even love that she was looking for. The lyrics are a bit cheesy but the song itself is a tune you can enjoy.

After that their offerings get a bit more varied with one song ‘Money Shoe’ sounding like a track from my old beloved Punk goes Crunk CD. I think that’s where those outside influences of R&B and hip-hop come in.

The remaining songs are more poppy then punky which in itself is not a problem as I love a good pop song. However this album is not what you’d expect from the UK pop-punk scene, or in any other country come to think about it. Though perhaps what the genre needs is a little out of the box thinking to shake it up. If it does, Awful Truth certainly does the job.

All in all the album is listenable and definitely unique. Woes have created their own sound and I’m quite looking forward to seeing how that translates at a live show. If you listen to bands like WSTR or Seaway I would definitely check this one out, but be sure to come at it with an open mind as they are not a band to be pigeonholed at all.