7/10 New Music Roundup
The first Friday of the new international music release day was somewhat quiet, although it did bring us the highly, highly anticipated return of Spraynard, along with a few promising singles.
Albums
Spraynard’s triumphant return from hiatus was preceded by the 7" single for “Bench,” which indicated that Mable might have much more of an emo tilt than the band’s pre-hiatus material (excepting “Can I Borrow a Feeling?”). However, other than “Bench” and the beautiful penultimate track “Out of Body,” the album actually doubles down on the pop/punk, occasionally approaching blink-182 levels of poppiness.
Despite opening the album with the line “I am every person that you’ve ever ignored / I am the flaming bag of dog shit on your porch,” Mable actually enters more mature lyrical territory than any of the band’s previous work. The hooks are also bigger than ever before and the songs are more distinct from one another, each with their own individual personality. Mable may not be the most ambitious or revolutionary album released this year, but it definitely is one of the most enjoyable.
Listen: Full album (Spotify, non-Spotify), “Lost Boys”
The Alternative has been pushing this album so hard on Twitter lately that I almost didn’t check it out due to sheer annoyance. I figured it was one of the writers’ own band or was on one of their record labels or something. Now, after listening to the record, I realize they may have been promoting it so much because it’s just a really good album.
Despite occasionally veering dangerously close to dreaded twinklecore territory early on in the record, the songs eventually mellow out into a beautiful combo of emo, post-punk, and alt-rock. The singer’s voice is rich and strong, as are the production values, both of which are a rare delight among emo albums. The songs contain honest, heartfelt lyrics and beautiful, melancholy melodies built on lush, dense, complex soundscapes, resulting in a powerful, enthralling listen. Plus, there’s even a hidden track! This album clearly deserves multiple listens to completely wrap your head around it, but that’s just fine by me.
Listen: Full album (Spotify, non-Spotify), “Feel Better”
Rehasher is the side project of Less Than Jake’s Roger Lima, who are still kicking after more than 20 years in the biz. On Rehasher’s out-of-nowhere third album, you’ll find loads of amped-up skatepunk very much in the style of Lima’s LTJ offerings (minus the ska). Although very similar to their first two albums, this one seems to be their strongest effort yet on first listen. Lots of high-speed, major key power chords on this one. You won’t find anything too lyrically deep or musically groundbreaking on here, but if you still love “The Ghosts of Me and You,” this album will make your day.
(P.S. Apologies for the tiny album art.)
Listen: Full album (Spotify), “I Might Explode”
Another side project from the one of the best ‘90s and ‘00s pop/punk bands. However, while Roger Lima gets lead vocals on a good number of LTJ songs and acts as a second frontman for the band, Chad Gilbert hangs in the background much more for New Found Glory. Unlike Rehasher, this album also deviates heavily from NFG’s style, adopting a ‘50s Grease-rock throwback sound that comes so close to working, but just misses. The lyrics are overly simple and the melodies overly sugary, and the sound gets a bit grating over the course of 12 songs. It’s a nice effort and a pleasant listen, but it just doesn’t quite connect and comes off a bit gimmicky.
Listen: Full album (Spotify, non-Spotify), “You’re the Most”
Just three songs from these dudes, but they’re all good ones. The title track especially shows some evolution for this band, as they continue to expand the scope of their pop/punk-by-way-of-indie-rock sound. This is my favorite release of theirs to date, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the near future.
Listen: Full EP (Spotify, non-Spotify), “Big Vacation”
Singles
Pentimento is back with two new songs, continuing to provide a fix for those of us who still rock our old Taking Back Sunday records on the regular. The title track is the first single from the band’s forthcoming album, coming later this year. Notably missing are the shouty bits from the band’s earlier work, which leaves these songs sounding very much like something off of Sherwood’s A Different Light. Luckily, the new style suits them just as well as before, with “Stuck Forever” being one of the year’s better odes to an old flame. The lyrics kill me every time.
Listen: Full 7" (Spotify, non-Spotify)
The Doped Up Dollies got their start providing backing vocals on Big D and the Kids Table’s Fluent In Stroll, but now they’re back with an album of their own. The upbeat melody and catchy rhythms are pretty fun and fresh on their own, carving out fairly unique territory in the current girl-group landscape. However, I do wonder if I’ll be able to stand their songs for the length of an entire album.
The Wonder Years are back with the first single from their forthcoming No Closer to Heaven, out on September 4th. It sounds very much like a Wonder Years song, in that Dan Campbell’s anguished delivery comes across as vital and captivating for a song or two, but ends up sounding repetitive and exhausting for any longer. If you like The Wonder Years, you’ll like this song, but I wouldn’t expect any surprises from them at this point in their career.
