Get Up Kids’ Simple Science a study in transition

It’s a damned good thing the new Get Up Kids EP, Simple Science, starts with “Your Petty Pretty Things.” It’s the only song of the four on the record to really come close to the earlier Get Up Kids formula of simple poppy rock ‘n’ roll that builds to a cathartic release when it hits the chorus.

It’s understandable that this album would be as different as it is. Simple Science comes a full six years after the last Get Up Kids album, Guilt Show. However, the spacey aesthetic of the second track, “Keith Case,” is barely recognizable as the same band, as is the fourth track, “How You’re Bound.