What if The Replacements wrote Bruce Springsteen songs? If The Gaslight Anthem were merely an answer to that question, they’d already rank among the best possible ideas for a band. But don’t let that referential exterior fool you into thinking these Jersey punks inauthentic. American Slang offers up sincere rock ’n’ roll that aches in the best of ways, fuelled by the anxieties of boys and girls crashing into one another and ending up adults on the other side. Frontman Brian Fallon sings his nostalgia stories with a fierce burn in his throat, as if you can hear the characters’ mistakes and regrets in every raspy note. If only all punks grew up with such fever.