With their first release in six years, I figured that I would be pretty damn stoked on hearing some new music from THE GET UP KIDS. But what musical iteration of the band would it be? Earnest, emo/power-pop? Achingly mature alt-country? A little of column A and column B? It turns out that Simple Science, a mere four song release would be mostly the first choice, with the band again mating its signature ear-catching vocals with a mish-mash of indie-guitar-something-loud-and-soft. I suppose the material isn’t terribly far removed from the material on Guilt Show, but the guitars are stiffer, the recording is colder, and the pop-element is more distant. THE GET UP KIDS got up and got older and they left their inimitable bounciness sitting on a swing in the schoolyard. You might argue that On A Wire already separated the band from sugary exploits, and though that may be true, Simple Science sounds nothing like that outlier. Opener “Your Petty Pretty Things” has juice and was definitely the right song to start off the release – the first impression is “Yep, sounds like THE GET UP KIDS”. “Keith Case” is slower, moodier, and almost dreary, while the two and half minute “Tommy Gentle” never seems to get into focus. Already, it’s the end of the EP with the blockish, “How You’re Bound” and its jagged, post-punk stabs of guitar noise. If there’s a word that singularly sums up the EP in a comeback frame of mind, it’s “modest.” A few more words might say “Not bad, just underwhelming against high anticipation, and four songs doesn’t satiate my interest.”