A Rocket to the Moon

It’s refreshing when someone actually makes good on their potential. Call it cynicism, but wasted talent seems to be the most common kind these days. Chico local Justin Richards, however, has bucked this trend. His band Brighten has been banging around the Chico music scene in one form or another for the better part of the last decade, and though the band found some modicum of national success, they never quite broke through to the mainstream. Not so with his new project, the Braintree, Mass.-based A Rocket to the Moon. On Your Side, the band’s debut album for Fueled by Ramen—the label that spawned mega-bands Fall Out Boy and Paramore among others—sparkles with Richards’ trademark unabashedly pop-driven songcraft. Though in ARTTM, Richards hands over vocals duties to frontman Nick Santino, fans of Brighten will nevertheless find themselves in familiar territory on songs like “Dakota” and “Annabelle.” For those about to rock, On Your Side may be a little bit on the FM-pop side; producer Matt Squire slicks up the production to a gooey, marshmallow-y texture. But for long walks on the beach, or at least in the mall, On Your Side is the jam.