Open City – “Return Your Stolen Property Is Theft”

Photo by J Leiby

Creatively, Open City is like throwing kindling onto an already full-engulfed inferno. The sum of the Philly post-hardcore band’s parts make that a foregone conclusion, seeing as you’ve got four members who standing alone could easily set the world alit with it being comprised of Bridge & Tunnel’s Rachel Rubino, Dan Yemin of Paint It Black, Lifetime and Kid Dynamite, his Paint It Black bandmate and CEREMONY guitarist Andy Nelson, and Chris Wilson of Titus Andronicus and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Put all these punk lifers in a room and you get a political powder keg with “Return Your Stolen Property Is Theft”, the lead single from Open City’s sophomore effort six years in the making, Hands In the Honey Jar. The sum of each head’s parts crash both stylistically and in exclamation with a melodic careen as the band tears into a history of a nation built on violent capitalistic gain. “Wait or is it? / Is it his or mine or ours or theirs or hers? / Maybe it’s the last one who’s left standing holding onto bloody remnants,” Rubino screams. Not one pair of hands are without guilt. We’re all just throwing dry wood onto the endless world fire at this stage.

Open City’s Hands In the Honey Jar will be released October 6th on Get Better Records.