Relient K
Air for Free

Relient K - Air for Free

This first impression was originally posted as a live blog for supporters in our forums on July 13th, 2017. First impressions are meant to be quick, fun, initial impressions on an album or release as I listen to it for the first time. It’s a running commentary written while listening to an album — not a review. More like a diary of thoughts. This post has been lightly edited for structure and flow.

I’ve been listening to Relient K since I was going through my christian music phase in early, early high-school. It was the period of my life when I was doing the whole Young Life thing. That is all a story for another time, but, through it I did discover some music that I’ve enjoyed ever since. MxPx. Slick Shoes. Dogwood. Value Pac. These are bands I’ve been listening to for a looooong time now .. and Relient K were one of the bands that drew me in almost immediately. The pop hooks. The fun, tongue in cheek lyrics, and their ear for harmony. The band’s changed some over the years, they’ve moved more toward the secular crowd, they saw some mainstream popularity for a little while, and overall they’ve always been a band I’ve kept an eye on. I think Matt T has one of the best ears for pop music out there and is arguably one of the better songwriters in our little scene. He’s that good. I have even found a way to like some parts of Collapsable Lung a little after a few years, although, that’s easily my least favorite from the band.

The new album is Air for Free. It’ll be streaming on Pandora this Friday. It’s 16 tracks long. So, it’s a beast of an album. But my first impression is that they went for it. Matt H described it to me as: “the opposite of our attempt at radio (Collapsible Lung) and we just tried to be ourselves and have fun with it” — and I think in a lot of ways that’s a great way to describe it. It’s fun. It’s different in the right ways.

Ok, so here we go …

Same stuff I usually type at the bottom: I totally can change my mind in the future and when I listen again. Please ask questions if you want, and really this is kind of a running commentary of how I feel and what I’m thinking while listening to the album. It’s not really a review, it’s not really anything besides just me having some fun and listening to an album and giving thoughts.

Bummin’

8:55pmThey’ve released this one already.

I’m one of the people that likes this one … I hope others do as well, but I haven’t read the thoughts that much on it. But I think it’s a good way to start the album. The production is thick, the way he says “I’m sad” is one of my favorite little vocal moves.

8:57pmThe vocal mix is a little pulled down in this album, but in a way that actually works for me. Because I think it’s the opposite of what they did with CL. It’s got a little fuzz to it.

8:57pmMatt’s such a good singer. Hah. I just really love his voice and tone.

Local Construction

8:58pmTrack two is always where I start to get a feel of an album. It’s where you wanna know what they’re going to set the tone of the album as … and this one starts with piano. Big piano intro. And then a nice little bouncy melody.

9:00pmVery FGANSD pacing to these verses … huge melody and layers. Mid-tempo. Such an interesting move to put this so early into the sequence like this.

“like local construction, it’s never done… ”

This one goes by quickly all in all, and it moves into the other track released so far … Mrs. Hippo.

Mrs. Hippopotamuses’

9:02pmThis track is awesome. I saw negative comments from some people when it first got released, but fuck that, it’s such a great pop song …

9:03pmThis is the kinda song that just sounds like summer. Catchy beat, love how he talks through those verses … feels a little folksy in the melody. To me, it’s a catchy song in the best way Relient K can do it.

Cat

Quirky beat.

9:05pmAnother song where the vocals are pulled back and I get a weird almost Sgt. Peppers vibe. You can tell they’re having fun here, I’m not sure how much I like the lyrics on the first listen, but it’s got a fun chorus, lots of woah/ohhhs and the “gonna live a long long time” refrain.

9:06pmA big summer vibe from the first four. Catchy, light, breezy. Lemon slices, skirts, and sandals. The album cover makes sense.

Man

9:08pmThey’re having fun with these tempos.

“Goodbye to heartache that’s the only southern part of me, I’ll pack some boxes in the basement and move down the street.”

9:09pmInteresting chorus. Not what I was expecting. Big synth. More twinkly piano.

9:10pmThis one is definitely more mid-tempo, laid back, and I think it’s gonna grow on me, but it’s not grabbing me completely on first listen. More listens of the album and how it plays in the sequence will let me know how I feel more.

I think fans of FANSD are going to like this album.

##Air For Free

9:11pmTitle tracks always have a lot pressure. It really needs to let me know why they named the album after it and all that …

9:12pmGod I love how this opens. More electronic beat … almost spoken vocals … very, very “airy.”

9:13pmA lot of electronic sounds going on here, almost … early Beck vocal pattern? … not very conventional structure … surprising, unexpected.

9:14pmTransforms in the last third. Slows. More guitar picking, slows out… very interesting song … it’s the opposite of “Gloria” and everything that no one liked about that track. Hahaha.

God

9:15pmInteresting title.

Very piano. Much Andrew McMahon feel.

9:16pmOn the nose lyrically … “I believe in God” … haha, haven’t seen a more right out there Christian track from them in a while.

9:17pmInteresting little Nashville tinge going on here. Trying to listen to the lyrics, which through the verses don’t catch me as overtly religious … the chorus sure does though. This feels very contemporary christian radio rock. Some things I like in there, nice melody, good piano, good vocals.

I do like Matt going into the upper register. Not my favorite. Gets a little long for me.

Elephant Parade

9:19pmHahahahahaha. BRASS MOTHER FUCKER.

9:20pmCarnival-esque beat. Theatrical verses.

It’s Matt doing his fun little lyrical runs that you smile at … he’s really good at that..

9:21pmI like this. It’s different. Really different. And it pulls into a crazy piano middle portion … a real highlight.

Speeds the entire chorus up and just keeps going faster … faster …

Mountaintop

9:23pmThis entire album has a beat to it. Like they definitely are letting the percussion take the songs over in a lot of ways.

9:23pmCatchy. Damn. Poppy.

9:24pmMaybe a little too Collapsable Lung in that melody, but I like the lyrics more … but it’s got a very pop structure … the chorus is very much something that sounds like Matt could have written for someone else in the pop world and didn’t use.

9:26pmI like that they’re still trying things musically. All these songs so far have had a lot more room to breathe than their earlier work, which were more faster paced pop-punkish songs. And this feels like it’s between Forget/Five Score and the good parts of CL. The sweet spot.

Sleepin’

50 second guitar intro … building …

9:28pmI don’t even know how to describe this, really … it’s like you wanna grab your ukulele and sit by a fire and just sing along. A little Forrest from HGB feel to the way it’s put together.

9:30pmThese lyrics. Hahaha, what? I don’t know how I feel about that.

It’s totally got this country/folk/campfire vibe to this one.

Empty House

9:23pmWoah. Piano. It sounds like they took the raw and unfinished vocal and just cranked the fuck out of the autotune …. it’s … kinda epic.

I think people are going to hate this one, because people hate anytime anyone uses autotune as an artistic choice.

9:34pmYou can hear him throwing his voice to let it grab it … I don’t know if this would be better without it or not (it would still be good without it), but when someone does this I always ask myself why … why make that choice … and try and believe there’s a reason and find it. And I dunno, I really like this.

9:35pmGive this time to engulf you. I know there are people that hate when bands do this, I see it all the time, but I really find something beautiful in it. It’s like Fun’s “Stars.”

Flower

9:36pmSimple. Soft.

A good transition from the previous song, we’re in the pretty emotional part of the album now. Nice Beach Boys-like harmonies going on in the background. This would have fit on FANSD.

9:38pmI look forward to spending more time with this one and listening to the lyrics.

The kind of song that doesn’t stick out and you make sure to go back and listen to as a standout / single, but that works in the entire album, because it fleshes it all out. It’s part of the experience, the up and down, the ebb and flow.

Marigold (Intro)

Piano and harmonies.

“It’s not said anymore….”

Marigold

9:41pmInteresting way to pull from the “intro” track into this one … it works as an interlude almost … because then this one kinda picks it back up and brings back the driving beat and bouncy aesthetic.

“Oh, I’m a marigold, and you picked me….”

The right(?) amount of cheese?

9:43pmAnother breezy, airy song. In a lot of ways this really does feel like the summer version of FANSD, the progression of that album but with a different theme … no longer about getting over a broken engagement, but with the same confidence.

9:44pmThat whole song felt like it kept building … from the start to the end … really like these background woooahhhahshshshshshshshsshs.. I am a woah sucker.

##Runnin’

9:45pmI get another Nashville/country vibe from this opener, but then it moves into a far more grungy rock sound. Yeah, very country/bluegrass feeling with that chanty vocal.

9:46pmIt just … stops… and then moves into a bounce … this is still labeled as the same song.

9:47pmWoah. Wasn’t expecting that.

And it stops … again … and then moves again into something else … woah … what is happening.

9:48pmDamn, this is interesting.

6+ minute song …

9:49pmTotally unexpected what they did with this — I like it.

Clever.

puttin’ myself in your shoes
I keep … runnin’

Prodigal

“Sweet Jesus I was coming to pray … ”

9:51pmAnother (more overtly) religious themed song. Synth backbone.

9:53pmMore of a interlude like song here … but pretty …

Heartache

Final song.

9:54pmPiano. All the piano.

A mix of everything so far going on here, the folksy/country/synth/piano/beat/mixture.

9:56pmThis is really good.

“I will not let my heart … ache, I won’t be treading water waiting on a wave…”

10:02pmI love how this ends the album. It’s got an epic feel to it without feeling too over the top. It’s a nice mixture of what they introduced through the album, it takes some risks, it moves into some interesting spots, but it has a really nice pop backbone. It’s got these little country flakes that seem to be the salt to the entire album, the way that it washes over it all, keeps it all together, but there are still moments where it finds a way to break out without getting too far away.

I think the album’s better than CL, easily, on first listen … maybe that’ll change and it’s the cheap beer talking … but it’s the kind of “mature” Relient K album that probably should have followed FANSD. It feels so different than what they did on Five Score or Mmhmm, but at the same time, it’s definitely got the same penchant for melody and catchiness. There are a lot of piano pieces that run through it that reminds me of FANSD, but this feels like a bigger production. Sounds better, sounds larger, but it has that same … I dunno … mindset? to it.

10:10pmBy and large I am most interested in going back and looking at a few of the earlier songs, seeing how they sit, how they move into the sequence. Things like “Cat” and “Man” and “God.”

I think if I have a complaint, it would be there’s a few times I almost just wish it got a little faster, moves more toward something like “Find Something to Do” territory, which I think just might be the best of that summery and crazy fun pop sound. This walks on that line though, but I don’t know if it has the “it” factor that album did.

It’s risky. It’s not playing it safe though. I love that. That’s why I want to spend more time with it, it feels … cheap … to just go through a first listen with this one. It feels more than that. It seems like it deserves more. I need to dive into what they did and really figure out my thoughts. It’s not really that I feel conflicted about it, it’s that I really feel like I liked it all, but I also wanna know what, where, and how much. How much do I like this? That’s gonna take some time. I am impressed that a band took the hit on the chin they did with their last album and didn’t just go write part 2 of their greatest hits. They could have. This feels like it moves them forward musically, they tried things, they went for it … and even when I don’t think it works I am impressed. The production is on par with FANSD, a little muddle a few places, but not distracting, and in other places really great – the instruments shine and glean and it’s full of intentionality and purpose. Used as an actual accent and musical tool, not just a means to an end.