July 22, 2014 • Tiny Engines
For some reason I keep forgetting this band exists—even though they're easily one of my favorites of the new wave of midwest emo (despite being from Florida). I loved Chicago Bowls, and Broad Shoulders was just as good. But something happened after that and this, their second album, just isn't cutting it for me whatsoever.
The midwest emo sound is actually disappearing, being replaced with a bit more straightforward indie rock style (or even alternative rock, somehow). A few of the tracks on are a bit more on the soft, plodding, post-rock-ish side as well. Nothing atypical for this style of music, I suppose.
But going back and comparing this to Broad Shoulders, just two years earlier, it almost feels like a different band—or at least like something special has been lost. No more silly audio clips, everything feels a bit slower and flatter, and a little bit more generic; even the vocalist (when he doesn't sound like a different person entirely) sounds like he's falling asleep most of the time, when on previous songs he was quite energetic. It took until the eighth song, "Donuts in a Six Speed", to finally hear something like the band I was expecting.
I dunno; I guess the songs are still decent, but I can't help but feel massively disappointed. Hardly anything in ten whole tracks got me excited; I really wonder what happened to this once-great band. At least they still have one great EP and one great album to listen to regardless.
No comments:
Post a Comment