Point North may be a name you are not yet familiar with, but if you like pop-punk or are a fan of bands like With Confidence or State Champs, then it’s a name you should make a mental note of. Brand New Vision, released on Hopeless Records, is their debut album.

Needless to say, the California trio are off to a great start with Brand New Vision, the self-produced record. The album is an excellent mix of pop hooks, with a dash of hip-hop and electro thrown in. The album doesn’t fit into any boxes, bringing hope of a genreless world that we have been dreaming of. Some songs are more pop-punk than anything else, but in others, roots lie elsewhere.

There are a couple of guest appearances on the album. The title track ‘Brand New Vision’ enlists the also up and coming artist DE’WAYNE. ‘Into The Dark’ features the vocals of Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens, whose pedigree and experience brings a lot of weight and mastery to the song. This track got the band noticed by so many of their newly earned fans exactly as featuring an old favourite is designed to do.

With almost half of songs on this album already released fans had a good taste of what they were going to hear. However, the album as a whole is a beautiful thing that can be listened to from beginning to end with each track complementing each other nicely.

Stand out songs include ‘Personal’ which has a wonderful violin riff that immediately speaks to the heart. The incredible vocals from Jon Lundin are really highlighted on ‘Personal’ and running throughout the album, they really do shine. ‘Heartbeat’ may be one of the best songs, it was released last year and has a sleek feel with its autotuned vocals and happy go lucky guitar hooks courtesy of Andy Hershey. Tracks’ Lethal’ and ‘A Million Pieces’ are the pure pop-punk offerings and draw our attention with their catchy hooks.

Point North may have a long way to go still and are a DIY band who are not yet polished, which is the beauty of them. They are exactly what the scene needs, and you can almost hear the blood, sweat, tears, and hard work in their delivery of each song. They are destined for great things, and you will be hearing a lot more from them over the coming years that you can be sure of.