Bryce Avary, the one-man band behind the Rocket Summer, continues to entice, captivate, and inspire his audience to dance and sing aloud in front of their bedroom mirror with his latest album “Do You Feel.”

Avary begins the album with an upbeat poppy track, “Break It Out,” that immediately caused me to roll down my car windows and crank up the volume. In fact, the entire CD gave me that bubbly vibe. Not like the typical “pop band” it does a great job of fusing both pop and punk together. With the increasing popularity of bands such as Fall Out Boy, All American Rejects, and Jack’s Mannequin, The Rocket Summer brings a fresher and smoother sound to alternative music. One of their more popular songs off the album, “So Much Love,” utilizes different instruments, such as piano, to give the song a “light hearted, in love” kind of feel.

Another one of the highlights of the album is the lyrics. Avary is a poet of musical literature and his lyrics exceeded my expectations. They are not simple little commercially based monotonous words, the lyrics seem to have meaning and depth even when taken separate of the music. They are words that I could relate to. In the song, “Do You Feel” it asks the listener if they are too busy worrying about their own life that they don’t realize others suffering. Everyone, at one point in time gets wrapped up in their own problems that they don’t take a second to look back and think “some may have it worse.” The Rocket Summer does an excellent job of incorporating meaningful lyrics into an upbeat, toe tapping type song that one can’t help to sing along with.

All in all, I thought this album was fantastic. Though I enjoyed some songs more than others, the album seemed to put me in a good mood. I would definitely recommend that people at least give it a try. No doubt it is a different kind of sound, but who ever said different was a bad thing?