Just when you think the days of surprise album releases are over, Oso Oso comes through in the clutch to deliver to their fourth studio album called Sore Thumb. This collection of 13 cohesive songs flows brilliantly from start to finish, and features a variety of tempos, feelings, and emotions throughout the record. The band is just coming off of their most successful (both commercially and critically) album to date in 2019’s Basking in the Glow, and had a lot of positive momentum going in their favor leading up to this album cycle. However Jade Lilitri, the only permanent member of the band, experienced a heartbreaking loss around this time last year when his touring guitarist Tavish Maloney passed away tragically at the age of 24. Lilitri does his best to honor his late contributor with one of this year’s best emo records, and one of this year’s best artistic statements to date.
The record opens over a steadily strummed acoustic guitar that fades away into some great electric guitar riffs as Lilitri sings on the first song called “Computer Exploder,” “Nothing goes quite like I planned it / Think I took your love for granted, little row boat / Captain of my own Titanic / These pills make me feel gigantic, overflow.” The track is incredibly well-crafted through its breakneck tempo changes and lyrical material. Lilitri tackles the boredom of the never-ending pandemic on “Nothing To Do,” as he sings with a melancholy delivery, “Entered a light, a temper defined / Left, right, in time / Nothing to do but hang around / I always knew I’d let you down / Nothing to do but hang around / Slip through the cracks let myself drown.” The song sounds pretty similar to the vibes put forth on Basking in the Glow, but the new nuances to the songwriting keep things feeling fresh and urgent.
”Father Tracy” is another song that grabs your interest from the opening notes and never lets up. Oso Oso sure as hell knows how to craft a well thought out chorus on this song, and it ended up being one of my favorites in the set. The second verse of, “Clears his throats and takes a sip of the liquid in his flask / Says ‘you too can have salvation, all you needs to ask’ / Well I just know that there are things that I can’t understand / Father Tracy, he’s a drunk, but he’s a decent man,” finds Lilitri describing a flawed man, yet he’s able to see the best parts in this person that he clearly admires. The complexities that Oso Oso finds in his lyrics only add to the value of the album as a whole.
Some of the middle of the record with songs like the somber “Give a Fork” and the distant “All Love,” tend to finish up before they get their true footing, but they’re a forgivable interlude in the grand scheme of Sore Thumb. “Fly On The Wall” gets the album back on its main course as it speeds along with veteran ease. The guitar tones in particular on this track really showcase the depth to Oso Oso’s songwriting improvements and the attention to detail in the production.
”Describe You” is a mid-tempo rocker that finds Lilitri contemplating mortality and his legacy as he sings, “Whenever I try, I find that I just can’t describe you / Living my life, I find that I just can’t decide to love and give / Or leave and live my life behind some kind of statute / Whenever I die, I’ll find that I just can’t define truth.” It’s an enjoyable moment of reflection found on Sore Thumb that brings further weight to his words.
The lead single, “Pensacola” features a rare piano-based beat that finds Lilitri doing some wordplay with the number 79 as he reflects on several things going on his life. I found the second verse particularly powerful as he explains, “79 days since God sent her / She says, ‘Mistakes don’t make who we are’ / But 79 less fuck ups in my book / Brings me to you, behind the wheel of a car / So it’s 79 lies that I’ll tell for / My seat in hell / All alone at the foot of this bar.” It’s an interesting way of approaching the song, and yet it almost feels like this song could’ve been a stand-alone single since it sticks out amongst the rest of the material its packaged with.
Things continue to improve on the latter material with songs like the vibrant “Sunnyside,” and the bouncy “Because I Want To.” On the latter track, Oso Oso brings back the piano into the fold and makes for an ultra-enjoyable listening experience that demands a sing-a-long part in his live set for years to come as he sings, “I love you, because I want to.” Oso Oso also admits in this track, “I write pretty songs, for my dog and baby / They love it when I sing / But it makes them crazy when I gotta leave / Just so I can feed him / I only really love the dollars when I need them” and it showcases the human element behind making music.
”Nothing Says Love Like Hydration” is a blast of surfer punk rock as Lilitri comes in and rips out a great-sounding song that delivers the goods early on and never lets up. Everything seems to build up to the somber album closer of “Carousel” as Oso Oso finds himself as his most vulnerable, as he casually strums over an acoustic guitar and pays direct tribute to his lost friend. Lyrics like the opening lines of, “When I say I need you, know that’s not a joke / Cause the first song we sang, was the first words I spoke / So if I choose to leave, know I’ll be back again / Or we’ll meet somewhere else / You are my closest friend / And I love you so / But I wanna go,” are incredibly moving and simultaneously heart-wrenching as we hear Lilitri open up his soul to his listeners.
Overall, there’s a little bit of everything to be found on Sore Thumb, and fans of Oso Oso will certainly not be disappointed in this latest chapter in his discography. For newcomers to the world of this band, I invite you to listen with an open mind and open heart as you may be discovering your next obsession in this genre.