Hearts Of Gold

Don't call Dollar Signs a comedy band. That out of the way, there's no guarantee the rip-roaring, horn-inclined punk quintet won't be singing about running from a bumbling Paul Blart on the first verse of their new album Hearts of Gold. Or cracking a joke about being tired like Steve Buscemi's eyes on the closing ballad of said album. Dollar Signs are extremely good at expressing the human psyche, which often entails plumbing some anxious depths. A little levity helps. Especially these days. Hearts of Gold is Dollar Signs' most powerful statement to date. The Charlotte, N.C. band's third LP - and first for Pure Noise Records - is a boisterous masterstroke from the Jeff Rosenstock school of punk: resourceful and scrappy, catchy as it is cathartic. And they got jokes. Hearts of Gold feels like listening to an old friend recount some absurd anecdote that's hilarious to you about three other people, like getting hit by a car outside Taco Bell, narrowly avoiding serious injury, and some cop shrugging it off by handing you a lollipop (the jubilant barnburner "Negative Blood"). Or having your first panic attack at a middle school dance soon after the DJ refuses to play Sum 41's "Fat Lip" (the group therapy-via-shout-along banger, "Falling Off").