Emily Davis and The Murder Police - Never A Moment Alone (2021)

Emily Davis and The Murder Police is a band from El Paso. The band is that rare entity that incorporates acoustic guitar and opens for bands like Authority Zero. You could throw any number of labels on Emily Davis and The Murder Police. At its heart, this is a punk band. That’s not to say that you’ll think of The Clash or Ramones, but this is first and foremost a punk band.

The band’s new album Never a Moment Alone is a collection of 12 songs that shows the band’s punk-rock ethos as well as its ability to write a catchy song that is easy to sing.. You hear the punk-rock ethos first in the energy. In the first track “Artificial Happiness,” you hear an acoustic guitar, but if Flogging Molly has taught us anything, it’s that an acoustic guitar is not out of place in a punk band. In addition to the acoustic guitar, you also hear a raucous rhythm, some ripping lead guitar, and some shouts in the vocals.

The more you listen, the more you realize the similarity to Bad Religion. (Coincidentally, the band toured with Bad Religion in 2019.) It’s not in the sound. Rather, it’s in the lyrics that sound like they were written by someone who has presented a thesis. In “God Hates Flags,” Davis sings the line “They’re deified to obfuscate our history,” which sounds very much like something Greg Graffin would sing. Along the same lines, “Eden Is the Worst” has some pretty thought-provoking lyrics. Davis provides an alternate view of the Garden of Eden by singing, “Adam and his Eve accept that Eden is the worst because it feels like we’re the last two people on earth.”

“Semicolon” includes some lyrics that sound like they were inspired by a year of quarantine. Backed by a melody similar to a Green Day acoustic song, Davis sings, “What month is it? What day. Christmas leads right into May.” At our best, we have probably all felt that way. That feeling was only intensified by a year of isolation.

With every song, you realize that this band has hit on a winning formula. The songs are melodic and easy to sing along with. At the same time, they are energetic and intelligent. While this band may not blow you away with volume like some bands, they will blow you away with their ability to write smart punk songs.