Review: Julien Baker – Little Oblivions

Little Oblivions

The discourse around Little Oblivions, Julien Baker’s third album, certainly makes it seem like a rebirth. Indeed, with its full-band heft it’s a far cry from the sparse singer-songwriter quasi-folk of her debut Sprained Ankle, a collection of would-be demos by the then-teenage Baker. But for fans of hers, the comparative swell of Little Oblivions should come as no surprise; in retrospect, her sophomore LP Turn Out the Lights was a step in this direction, adding strings and occasionally horns to her usual piano- and guitar-based indie rock. While it contains some of her best songs (“Hurt Less” and “Claws in Your Back” come to mind), its songs were often still too skeletal to hold the weight of all her ideas. Little Oblivions remedies this, and then some.

The spareness of the music behind her voice, on the two previous albums, put an emphasis on her lyrics. They’ve always been a draw of her music; her poignant and honest depictions of alcoholism and depression are gripping enough to stand on their own, and she sings with enough conviction to convert a nonbeliever. While Baker remains an evocative lyricist and a powerful vocalist, the full band adds a whole new dimension to her sound. Baker jokingly warned on Twitter that she’s post-rock now, but there’s some truth to the statement. Nearly every song on the record would still be beautiful without her voice at all, as each builds and swells to give her songs the gravity they’ve always deserved.

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Review: Camp Trash – Downtiming

Camp Trash

The revival of beloved emo label Count Your Lucky Stars has been great to watch, and with their recent signing of Florida’s Camp Trash, it looks like the label’s got a bright future again. The four-piece is a bit of an outlier for the label, however; their style of emo is far from the sad, twinkling sort the label made its name on. Instead, Camp Trash draws on the poppier stylings of bands like The Get Up Kids and Saves the Day, but with a modern edge, similar to Oso Oso’s basking in the glow. Downtiming, the band’s debut EP, doesn’t feel like a rehash, though, or a relic. It feels like a statement entirely Camp Trash’s own.

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Review: The Injured List – The Difference Between Giving Up & Losing

The Injured List - The Difference Between Giving Up & Losing

There aren’t many bands like The Injured List anymore. The Michigan two-piece’s style of pop rock is nearly totally alien in 2020; a listen through the band’s third LP The Difference Between Giving Up & Losing calls to mind giants of yesteryear like The Audition or Valencia (or even the original incarnation of The Injured List themselves). Perhaps that’s the quality that makes it so replayable.

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Review: Kayak Jones – You Swear It’s Getting Better Every Day

Kayak Jones

You Swear It’s Getting Better Every Day feels to me like the sort of album that, were it released two decades ago, would net Kayak Jones the legacy of a band like Name Taken. Perhaps not appreciated in their time, but considered a classic in retrospect. Like Name Taken, Kayak Jones is ultimately a pop-punk band, although with a heavy dose of emo influence. While they aren’t the first to play the style, and won’t be the last, they do so in a way that feels refreshing.

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Review: German Error Message – Mend

German Error Message - Mend

Although it’s officially been spring for a couple of weeks now, we’re still stuck in that middle part of the Venn diagram in between winter and spring. You still need a jacket on your morning commute, but you can change into shorts by lunchtime. It’s still hazy and cloudy, but it’s warming up, and the snow’s been replaced with rain. This is all to say that it’s the perfect weather to listen to German Error Message’s new album Mend.

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Review: Owel – Paris

Owel

Back in February, on this very website, I predicted that Owel’s then-upcoming third album would be “just as vibrant, expansive, and gorgeous as its namesake” Paris. A single listen through reveals that to be true. Paris is a truly beautiful record, and, though it hasn’t even been out a week, it’s not inconceivable that it might be the band’s best yet.

Every Owel album feels like a cinematic experience, and Paris is no exception. Their last album, Dear Me, began the band’s slide towards the more symphonic end of the post-rock spectrum, and Paris pushes even further in that direction. There remains a heavy emphasis on crescendos and orchestral swells, but there seems to be less of a straightforward rock influence on Paris than there was on Dear Me. There are few moments like the catchy chorus of “Annabel” or the belted bridge of “I Am Not Yours” on Paris; instead, the climax of “A Message” is a whirlwind of strings and horns, and violin and piano take center stage on “Get Out Stay Out.” Jay Sakong is still a clear presence – thankfully, as he turns in perhaps his best vocal performance yet – but he doesn’t feel like the focal point of much of the record, giving every member of Owel equal weight.

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Review: Downhaul – Before You Fall Asleep

Downhaul

If there’s a musical equivalent of the bildungsroman (bildungsrecord?), then Downhaul’s debut full-length Before You Fall Asleep certainly qualifies. Throughout the album’s 33 minutes, Gordon Phillips and company try to navigate their twenties – with varying degrees of success. When they do fail, which seems to happen fairly often, they at least come back stronger.

So it is, in fact, when the album begins. “Grace Days” is a slow, drawly opener that stops and starts back up again twice within the first minute, like the band is just getting used to this whole music thing. “Word reaches me that you’re not taking care of yourself,” Phillips sings in the first verse. If you’re expecting some profound words of comfort, you’d be disappointed. He doesn’t call or write to check in, “because I don’t know how to, and that’s something I’ve got to live with.” This becomes a recurring theme on Before You Fall Asleep, that feeling of powerlessness you have over your own life, not to mention those of the people you love.

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Review: Petrov – Sleep Year

Petrov - Sleep Year

Six months ago Petrov was just a group of musicians connected through Craigslist. Now, this week they’re releasing one of 2019’s more impressive debuts in the form of the Sleep Year EP. Musically, they’re the sort of band that would immediately be labeled “emo” were they from Philadelphia (they hail from Charlotte, NC), and likely only really out of laziness. Their sound is admittedly fairly unique, mixing influences from pop, indie rock, and punk to create a synthesis that captures the best aspects of each.

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Review: AM Taxi – Shiver By Me

AM Taxi - Shiver by Me

Nearly a decade has passed since the last AM Taxi full-length, their debut We Don’t Stand a Chance. Similarly to other acclaimed 2010 albums by punk bands like Against Me!, Titus Andronicus, and The Gaslight Anthem, it was much indebted to rock and roll acts like Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band; unfortunately, perhaps because of that, the band didn’t quite gain the traction the others did on the album’s release. They spent most of the 2010s since laying low, releasing a couple of EPs, but now they’re back with Shiver By Me, and what a return it is.

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