Hailing from Philadelphia is Snap Infraction, a three-piece musical powerhouse comprised of Steve Karsch on vocals, guitar & percussion, Dave Kerr on bass and Tony Iannuzzi on drums. According to their bio, they “distill decades of rock n roll history into a modern sonic journey, crafting songs overflowing with hooks and dynamic instrumentation, echoing The Cars, Joe Jackson, early Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles, crafting a familiar, yet uniquely distinctive sound.” After listening to their considerable music catalog, I say that sounds about right!

From what I can tell, they’ve been around as a band for more than 15 years, and in 2009 released their first single “Try To See It My Way”, a pretty good rocker strongly influenced by the early Beatles sound. After a long hiatus, they released a five-track EP Chin Music in May 2017, then another three years would pass until their follow-up EP Stiff Arm, in May 2020. They were quite active in 2021, releasing several double singles throughout that year, followed by a very nice cover of the Beach Boys Christmas classic “Little Saint Nick” in December 2022, and their own original Christmas song “Christmas In The Islands” in December 2023. Now they return with “Keeping Score“, the lead single from their forthcoming full-length album Eephus, scheduled for release on May 3rd.

Written by Karsch, “Keeping Score” was recorded and engineered by Matt Weber at Gradwell House Studios, mixed by Mike Ian at Eyeball Studios (gotta love the names people come up with for their studios), and mastered by Tom Volpicelli at The Mastering House. The song was inspired by a conversation between Karsch and band drummer Ianuzzi, who yearned for a song channeling The Cars’ iconic sound. Karsch quickly got to work writing the song, placing special emphasis on drums to showcase Ianuzzi’s considerable prowess on his drumkit.

The result is a lively garage rock banger, opening with Ianuzzi’s impressive drumming front and center as he bangs out an aggressive thumping beat that gets our toes tapping and head bopping. He’s soon joined by Kerr’s wonderful buzzing bassline and Karsch’s earnest vocals that sound slightly reminiscent of Ric Ocasek here. As the song progresses, Ianuzzi injects flourishes of crashing cymbals with every chorus and sub-chorus, accompanied by Karsch’s spirited guitars that surprise at every turn while Kerr’s muscular bassline keeps the rhythm on solid footing.

The lyrics describe a man who recognizes his self-destructive ways and knows he needs to change, but just can’t seem to muster the fortitude to do what he must in order to become a better person: “I need to stop myself from becoming who I am./ I can’t help myself, you know I can’t believe my eyes./ What do they say about me? He lies, he cheats to get everything he needs, and maybe more. What will they say about me? I don’t need to know ’cause I’m not keeping score anymore.“

“Keeping Score” is terrific, and I think it’s one of Snap Infraction’s best songs yet. It’s a testament to their strong songwriting and musicianship, and a promising sign of what we can expect with their upcoming album.

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