Album Reviews

Album: American Beauty/American Psycho
Artist: Fall Out Boy
Release Date: January 16, 2015
Label: Island/DCD2
Genre: Pop Punk/Pop Rock

American Beauty/American Psycho is Fall Out Boy’s sixth album. The album finally completes the band’s total transformation from one of emo’s least-inventive forerunners to one of pop rock’s most experimental groups. But their previous albums were so much fun! What happened? Fall Out Boy takes themselves so seriously now, and it sucks the personality right out of these mostly pretty good collection of tracks.

First of all, what happened to the band? It’s just become an electronic side project for Patrick Stump, since the only real instrument we can hear is his (granted) powerful voice. The other members are so masked by over-production that they just sound like synths and white noise. However, this doesn’t make the album bad, it’s got some really good songs on it, like “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” but then again, it has some really awful songs too, like “Favorite Record,” which is just a silly fluff song. Mind you, Fall Out Boy’s never been the face for great lyricism. It doesn’t take a harsh critic to point out that they mostly write about girls and dancing (Like on “Favorite Record”).

The title track concerns me for the future of the band, because they experimented with this sound on their EP PAX AM Days. A giant clashing of instruments fighting for the loudest spot; you know, if the background noise doesn’t eventually overtake them all and the band just becomes Merzbow (which I personally wouldn’t mind, but the transitionary period would be torture)! In regards to the popular singles, “Immortals” and “Centuries,” I really don’t have an opinion. They’re both songs with silly lyrics and an overly poppy sound, but a lot of good pop songs are that way. These are just fine.

Some songs really shine through, like the opening track, “Irresistible,” or “Uma Thurman,” despite the silliest sounding refrain on probably the whole record. They work sonically! The album isn’t grotesque or poorly made or anything, it lacks character and has meaningless lyrics (and I hope they’d agree to that second part).

Great tracks: “Irresistible,” “Uma Thurman,” “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” “Twin Skeleton’s (Hotel in NYC)”
Not-so-great tracks: “American Beauty/American Psycho,” “Novocaine,” “Favorite Record”

FINAL RATING: 5/10

Album: Evermotion
Artist: Guster
Release Date: January 13, 2015
Label: Ocho Mule/Nettwerk Records
Genre: Alternative Rock/Indie Rock

Evermotion is Guster’s seventh studio album, and their first in a little over four years.

Guster’s Evermotion is an extremely cohesive album, each song seems to flow into the next (if one were to listen to them altogether). However, this doesn’t do the songs any justice. Guster is seven albums in, they know what they’re doing, but it feels like they’re pouring creative ideas into a mold that washes away the personality from any of their songs on the album. There is not a single bad track on this album, but only a handful of standout ones, and you really have to listen for them, or else you’ll get sucked into the album, only returning when the album is over and you say, “that was nice.”

The really sad thing, as I said before, is that every song is better than okay, some are even great songs, but the album feels like watery. You stick your head under for a while and then resurface.

Great tracks: “Doin’ It by Myself,” “Simple Machine,” “Kid Dreams,” “It Is Just What It Is”
Not-so-great tracks: None

FINAL RATING: 6.5/10

Album: B-Room
Artist: Dr. Dog
Release Date: October 1, 2013
Label: ANTI-
Genre: Indie rock/Blues rock/Neo-psychedelia

B-Room is the eight album by Dr. Dog. I don’t really know anything about the band except that I’ve heard of them before. Time to listen!

The album begins with “The Truth,” which is a very nice song to hang out to. It’s like something you’d listen to getting high with your friends, if that’s what you’re into. But it’s not exclusively that, it’s just a very “chill-out” track. Right now, it’s helping me calm down for an exam I have later this week. It’s like I don’t have a care in the world right now. The song has movement throughout and keeps your attention while it simultaneously allows you to totally ignore it while listening. This quickly fades into “Broken Heart,” which is a bit louder, and by the refrain sounds an awful lot like Animal Collective, but less electronic. The vocals are bouncing around playfully while the music keeps it steady. The short guitar solo is a nice little bit. That coupled with the outro’s chants make this a very good song.

Next is “Minding the Usher,” which uses an unusual chord progression in the guitar. The track kind of swells in a very slow way throughout its length. It starts off soft, then grows louder and then drops again. The bridge of this song is also really interesting, just soft little muffled stabs while the singer says “on and on and on…” Then, “Distant Light” starts off in a marching band like way, and the song sounds sort-of anthemic. If “Broken Heart” was the neo-psychedelia, this track is the blues rock. It’s very different from the other tracks on the album and I really appreciate that on this album, because they’re not all too different genres. And it sounds good! There’s no way around that fact.

“Phenomenon” creates this indie-rock-meets-farm sound that sounds extremely unique. This sound is very delicate and I’ll be very upset if they use it again on the album, because it has to be something used all on it’s own. The song’s strings are very well orchestrated, and it’s nice to see that they’re mostly played by real musicians and not just electronic instruments. After that it’s “Too Weak to Ramble,” which is another bluesy track, but less rock than the past one. The singer in this song sounds as though he really suffered the struggles of the old blues singers, and it’s a little sad to listen to, because this sound is created so effectively and so honestly that it’s totally believable. I’d be upset if I learned that these lyrics meant nothing and he was just trying to create a sound. I love this song.

“Long Way Down” is very interesting. It’s a true indie rock track and very difficult to describe. It makes me want to move and bop around. It’s guitar work is very cool, as well as it’s use of horns. The drums keep the beat while adding its own fills that are actually audible and good! The singing and lyrics are both great and the track makes me feel good. The next song, “Cuckoo,” goes back into that bluesy sound- this time more Black Keys than White Stripes. The sound is a bit dreary in this track, but that’s not bad, especially because, you know, it’s a blues song. The song forces me to tap my foot to the beat. It’s use of keys adds a nice old-school vibe to such a new cool song.

The song fades right into “Twilight,” which starts with a nice theremin that could have been part of the Titanic soundtrack, and then becomes a very strange piece that sounds straight out of a David Lynch movie. I really like this track, but my issue with it is that this is the track where I suddenly realize that this whole album is not cohesive. This is 12 different bands playing 12 different songs, like a compilation record of a music label. In terms of this song, it’s very cool, very eerie and interesting enough to be one of my favorites. Then, with no transition, “Rock & Roll” starts, which is very old-school sounding. It’s a great recounting of the artist’s past (if it actually happened, but either way, it’s a great story), much like “Jukebox Hero.” It’s sexy, it’s angsty, and it’s awesome, but it sounds a bit derivative of older artists. Is he trying to emulate the older artists? Maybe. It wouldn’t surprise me.

“Love” is another song that sounds very derivative and totally different from the rest of the album. But damn, the band’s music makes it so hard for me to be mad at them. I LOVE this song. If you ever hear someone complain that they don’t make music like (insert old band here) anymore, show them this song, it should be able to silence them. It’s the Beatles. It’s beautiful.

The last track on the album is “Nellie,” is also really good. Yeah, yeah, you get it. It’s the lighter song (except that’s lame, don’t do that), it’s the slow clap song, it’s the sing-along song, shout with them “Oh Nellie!”

There’s not a single bad song off of this whole album, which is the qualification I have for giving a great score to an album. The problem is that in order to make each song great, they had to make an album that is not cohesive at all. They can be themselves without sacrificing their quality!

Great track: All of them
Not so great tracks: None

FINAL RATING: 9/10

Album: Trouble
Artist: Natalia Kills
Release Date: September 2, 2013
Label: will.i.am/Cherrytree/Dandyville/Interscope
Genre: Pop/Electronic rock

Trouble is the sophomore release of English singer Natalia Kills. Her first album was released to mixed reviews and is generally considered to be lighter than this release- which includes more rock elements and heavier beats.

The opening track “Television” washes over you with static, a dead-cold heart thumping as a bass and tells us that we don’t know what love is. It’s a great way to start the album, and then it cuts- like changing a channel- to a more upbeat and rocking track. While I don’t care much for the static transition, I do like the second part to this song. The entirety of this track you can imagine a music video, a dark night in the city and a group of girls going around and having fun, causing trouble. I don’t know how the first part of the song connects to the later part thematically, but that’s nitpicking, because it sounds like it’s connected. Then the sirens ring in and “Problem” starts playing. Natalia sounds like an English Katy Perry, if Katy Perry wasn’t afraid to be a fucking badass. The track is loud and heavy, but it retains its pop sound. She sings like she’s pissed about how many times she’s heard that she’s a problem. Singing some of these songs must have cathartic for her. The song keeps the theme of city life- in my head anyway. I imagine this whole album taking place at various parts of New York City (I know it doesn’t, but I’m trying to relate).

“Stop Me” is the song I want to hear on the radio tomorrow. It has all of the qualifications to be a top 40 single, but it’s edgy, spiteful, and sung beautifully. We get the idea by this song that she really feels these angry feelings and abandoned emotions, and this is her singing from her heart and soul. When other people sing about running away or dancing, it’s superficial, but when she sings about, she’s really singing about escape, and we’d be crying if the song didn’t make you want to dance so much. “Boys Don’t Cry” sounds like retro-pop, but then makes it sound new with clever guitar, heavy beat, and static additions. The song reminds me of a darker “Teenage Dream” – sorry for the multiple Katy Perry references, but that’s what I hear. Also, I can’t help but smile when she says in her sexy spoken word voice “what is the limit, really?”

The song “Daddy’s Girl” starts with and then riffs off of Hall & Oates’s “Rich Girl,” adding her own feelings about growing up with “daddy.” She is explaining a man that she loves, whether it be a boy or her father, who’s involved in gangster activities. It’s a cute song, and written very well. “Saturday Night” pays respect to 80s dance music, but at the same time she sings like Lana Del Ray. I don’t know how I feel about this song. It’s introduction was cool, but the sound to this song is derivative, not expanded like the other songs on this album, of modern pop music. It’s nothing special in a world dominated by this kind of music. Don’t get me wrong, I like pop music, this album is very good, but this song is a letdown.

“Devils Don’t Fly” is an emotional pop (I’m going to keep ambiguously using this term) song that almost moves into R&B-style music. It’s clear through this and other songs that she has a rather negative view of herself, or rather she’s afraid of having lived a sinful life. Does she care or not? We don’t know, but it does occupy her mind enough to write songs about it, and this one is golden. Then “Outta Time” keeps that similar theme from “Devil’s Don’t Fly,” where the guy just can’t come back to the girl (her) for whatever reason. Although this song doesn’t use as much metaphor as the previous one, I prefer this song much more. I like the style more and the lyrics flow better. I wasn’t super crazy about the R&B crossover in the other song (I’m not a big fan of people trying to add other genres into one song, unless it’s done extremely well or it at least has its own section in the song, such as Between the Buried and Me, a prog metal band I like very much adding country or polka sections to their songs).

“Controversy” blasts its beat like a tribal rhythm, and the lyrics and singing style are reminiscent of Azaelia Banks’s bad work if her bad work was actually cool. This track is seedy and dark and it perfectly describes the modern High School and its tortures (at least American ones), and although it says that this isn’t high school, it is able to translate the parties and the pressure of going to them and doing things you don’t want to. It’s not an educational song, but it’s a damn scary WAKE UP THIS IS REALITY IT HAS CONSEQUENCES track. It’s easily one of the most relatable songs for angst-ridden teens and immature twentysomethings.

The song “Rabbit Hole” has a weird lead instrumentation, the backing music is made up of something like a bubble popping. The song just makes you want to move around and the lyrics are so dirty you can’t help but grin (or be disgusted, whichever kind of person you are). It’s edgy and it just adds another good song to this album’s repertoire. “Watching You” is another ballad-like track about a boy who broke her heart, with lyrics that grab your heartstrings and play you like a harp. I personally relate to this song, not entirely, but some motifs and specific lyrics affect me, as I’m sure they will many people. The refrain’s “ohhwhoaa!” is just tormentingly sad, but in a beautiful way.

“Marlboro Lights” is another sad personal song. I know how sentimental I was on the last song, but too much of a good thing is still too much. Does she think she’s Adele? How many songs can she have about men (or one man)? It’s a beautiful song, I’ll be honest, I just question the number of these kinds of tracks on a single album. The final track is “Trouble,” a song similar in theme to “Problem,” but it’s sung war-chant style now and it’s a great way to end the album. It feels like it’s really taking everything that makes this album HER album and combining it into one track. There aren’t many other closers as satisfying as this one.

You’ve found one of the best new pop artists around now. She’s smart, she’s witty, sexy, dark, emotional, powerful, and she knows how to make you move your body. This is a collection of songs that for the most part just fit, and every song stands out as its own, which almost never happens. Even if some songs are similar in theme, they all sound like different, individual, and personal songs. It’s just the right length, the right number of tracks, and the right performer.

Best tracks: “Problem;” “Stop Me;” “Boys Don’t Cry;” “Outta Time;” “Controversy;” “Watching You;” “Trouble”
Not so great tracks: “Saturday Night” (Ironically, because it was apparently critically lauded as her best track to date. I’m not playing Devil’s advocate, I just wasn’t a fan)

FINAL RATING: 8/10

Album: Hesitation Marks
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Label: Columbia/The Null Corporation
Genre: Industrial rock/Alternative rock/Electronica

Hesitation Marks is the eighth studio album by Nine Inch Nails and his first one since 2008’s The Slip, largely due to legal disputes, and Trent Reznor’s shifted focus on film soundtracks and other project How to Destroy Angels. I have been a big fan of Nine Inch Nails’s work for a while (I just bought a shirt of their’s today, as a matter of fact). I have not listened to this album before the writing of this article with the exception of the first single “Came Back Haunted,” but I can say that I am biased towards this band, and hope that the reader forgives me because I will try to give my most reasonable opinion.

The album begins with the intro track “The Eater of Dreams,” a sinister and foreboding track that I would imagine to be a warning of tracks to come. The only words are a highly distorted and affected “The eater of dreams!” After that the song ends rather abruptly, and goes to the next song “Copy of A,” a song that belongs in a 90s dance club with the bass blasted as loudly as possible. It’s dark, it’s bouncy, and it’s not aggressive despite the lyrics seemingly to be against the conformity of mankind. You’re all copies of copies of copies! You were allraised to be the same! It’s an interestingly made riff on the lack of individuality and free thought in humanity. It kind of just explains calmly that you were doomed from the start, you couldn’t be anything else, you were always a copy. You were either born a copy or you weren’t.

The next track is the first single “Came Back Haunted,” a song whose production really surrounds you, it’s felt from everywhere. The newest fans, the oldest fans, and everybody in between will find it difficult not to bang their heads or bounce their bodies to this song. It’s minor modes and brooding atmosphere can’t stop it from being not only extremely catchy, but extremely complete sounding. Adding a bit of a personal aside, it’s nice to hear that some bands don’t lose their touch even after many years. Trent Reznor may not be as angry or sad as he used to be, and therefore the music is less “metal” and aggressive, yet he’s still this dark figure making music that’s dark, but enjoyable music that could compete with the earlier work. So many groups and artists just can’t keep what they used to have; if you’re reading this, you could probably name at least one.

“Find My Way” is next, an emotional song dealing with the difficulty of getting back on the right track after being off it for so long. The bass and piano parts reminiscent of an Angelo Badalamenti composition, with classic NIN beats and electronic additions, the vocals sounding sincere and meaningful, like it’s something he really struggles with. The deep vocals at the end of the track are a little unnecessary, I think it would have been fine if the track just repeated the style throughout the song. It would have been redundant, but I wasn’t quite keen on the nearly monotonous and rather weak deep vocal execution. This is followed by “All Time Low,” a loopy and extremely modulated track that would sound crazy if handled by anyone else. The track is probably the most like his earlier work from this album. Once the song gets into your head and you start hearing the guitar, it’s kind of hard not to imagine people making love in clubs or bars… or maybe that’s just me.

“Disappointed” is fast-paced and full of swelling guitars and electronic noises. The music is a real highlight, it’s not a super complex song, but the ambience it creates is one that is deep, intense, dark, and strong. A bit noisy, in a good way. The weak part in this song is Reznor’s vocals during the verses. I feel as though they seem insincere, like he recorded them on a day he didn’t want to be there and just okay’d it for the record.The song is followed by “Everything,” a track that could be on top 40 radio stations if those stations were a little bit cooler. It’s one of those really cool pop-structured songs that manages to make it’s way to the radio every now and again. The song also sounds very nostalgic at times; it sounds like it really takes some influences seriously, with some indietronic influence also getting in there as well. Afterwards is “Satellite,” a song that brings us to the club yet again. He says it himself in the song “I’m inside your head,” and it’s extremely sexy. He brings in his affected vocals that is all too familiar in NIN’s work. There are so many tracks in this song, it really is like being surrounded by an army of Nine Inch Nails, and those are the best tracks, the ones that circle around you, and all you can do is dance to it.

The track “Various Methods of Escape” is good, but forgetful in the context of the album. It more or less just sounds like a song off of the album, if you get what I mean. I think that the guitar playing during the refrain of this song does not mix well with the electronic music that’s being played. The guitar sounds too “rock,” when it shouldn’t be. The following track “Running,” I can’t help but compare to the track “Survivalism” off of the album Year Zero, but less angry and more disquieting. The whole track you’re waiting for something to happen, a constant build-up. Even the post-refrain with its squeaky and interesting guitar part isn’t fully climactic- but I’m not saying has to be climactic, it’s just not. I happen to like the discomfort of anticipation, and this is a very well constructed piece. It’s like watching a movie with your ears. For those of you who have seen Inglourious Basterds, think back to the opening scene before Hans Landa finds out about the Jews hiding under the floorboards, and you’re just cringing; this track gives off a similar feeling.

“I Would for You” has an infectious beat and is one of those tracks that I mentioned that totally surrounds you. It’s also one of the tracks with the most amount of movement, meaning that it it’s not just a track that repeats itself and comes to an end- not always a negative thing, but it plagues much of electronic-based music- it’s a track that has parts that are discrete, but very much part of the same song, and that is great to hear, because this album does not have much of that. “In Two” is loud and very hectic instrumentally and vocally together, in a kind of chaotic beauty kind of way. Going back and forth between the loud, chaotic verses and equally loud, yet straightforward refrains creates a strange dichotomy in the realm of heavy music. This is a track that old NIN fans will appreciate for its anger, and its solemn, brooding, electronic ambience with the later half of the track.

The following track “While I’m Still Here,” is another pretty forgetful track, which is a bit of a let-down because it’s the last full track on the record. It’s a rather boring track, and it might supposed to be on the emotional side, but it could have been executed better. Which brings us to the last track on the album, “Black Noise,” which continues the beat from the previous track and starts adding more and more white noise to it as the album quickly reaches its conclusion. It’s an interesting and cool finale, but it does not redeem the previous track.

The album overall is a very good album, with almost no poor tracks. At the same time, there are only a couple of standout tracks, but really, how many can you ask for on one album? A few problems arise in the album layout. This album has some of the poorest transitions I’ve ever heard on an album, and I wanted to save my frustration until the end of this review. Nearly every song ends so abruptly and the next track is something totally different. I get that not every album is a single big song, but you’d think that at this point in Reznor’s career, he’d be able to fade away or end tracks properly. Those are my thoughts, feel free to disagree.

Best tracks: “Copy of A;” “All Time Low;” “Everything;” “Running;” “In Two”
Not so great tracks: “While I’m Still Here”

FINAL RATING: 8/10

Album: The 1975
Artist: The 1975
Release Date: September 2, 2013
Label: Dirty Hit/Polydor
Genre: Alternative rock/Indie rock/Electronic rock/Indie pop

The 1975 is the eponymous debut album by The 1975. Although the band has been around for 10 years, they first started gaining momentum this past one, where they released 4 EPs in preparation of this debut studio album. The English band suddenly blinked on the radar as something to watch and wait for. This album can be seen as the grand finale to the act that includes all of these short releases.

The album starts with the intro track “The 1975,” a more ethereal Imagine Dragons-like track that comes in and fades away quickly, leaving us wondering why they didn’t just fade into the next track. Surely it was not intended to be a full song on its own and it falls short of being an overture for the album since it does not quite reflect the album we are about to hear. Regardless, after the introduction, we come to “The City,” a song with an instantly catchy drum beat and fun, albeit “poppy,” sound. The track follows a very straightforward composition, a familiar one, and yet, they do not need to reinvent the wheel, they just have to decorate it to keep it interesting. This track accomplishes the decoration by adding smart production involving rewinds, an audible and catchy bass and drum track, and a very friendly and inviting guitar. A problem I have is with the sound of the keys, which make the track seem dated. Not in a nostalgic way, like a Smashing Pumpkins homage, but more like it should’ve been on British radio just under a decade ago. It’s not a big problem, it really only appears during the refrain, and it’s not even necessarily a “bad” thing, it’s just my opinion.

“M.O.N.E.Y”‘s instrumentation sounds like it’s ripped off of LSD: Dream Emulator (look it up), which is a great thing to hear, as I am a huge fan of the game and the soundtrack is a very strange and interesting companion piece. Even with the claps and vocals present, it still retains this sound, (especially with random sounds thrown in to the song). The song is the complete package that one looking for a great new indie rock band could want. The vocals sound like they were recorded a million times and they’re just echoing in your head. The beat gets inside of you and every strange, random thing thrown in there triggers an image in your head, almost like you ARE playing the aforementioned video game. Wah-wah guitars, extreme vocal production changes, everything that makes this song up is gold.

The next track is “Chocolate,” a song that may not be memorable amidst the relatively long track listing of this album. It sounds like they took the wheel I discussed before and just gave it to us again. If someone were to ever say, “that song sounds like a song by The 1975!” it would sound like this song. It’s catchy, but it’s meant to be, it doesn’t go anywhere except towards the end of the song. The last track (“M.O.N.E.Y.”) kept layering on top of itself and washed your brain, this one stays still. It’s not a bad song, nor is it a boring song, it’s a good one, but it sounds like I’m going to hear this track again later in the album with different words, and after everything is said and done, I won’t be able to tell you what this song sounded like if you pointed it out to me. After that track is “Sex,” a track that is about what do you think? The track is very enjoyable, with a guitar playing the same chord over and over again, but it energizes the track and moves the track forward- when it’s over, you feel as though it only lasted a minute. There’s a bridge with a sound that sounds like it comes out of a Killers track, and it’s wonderful and well-placed. The band is able to make their own sound over the course of this album, and with that, they make too many songs that sound alike, but then, all they have to do is change something subtly, and the song sounds very refreshing. This is a very refreshing track.

“Talk!” is next, a song that really establishes the band as an electronic group and makes the album one that is able to be dreamy, yet fun, pop, yet rock. It’s got a very electronic-like production, but it does it in a very unorthodox way, in the sense that the drums are very off-beat and the singing comes in at very abrupt and interesting ways. The song sounds like its stuck in a moment of time that keeps repeating itself, like the song loops itself, but it doesn’t. It sounds like a spiral, and I love that. This then follows into “An Encounter,” an interlude track that sounds like it came off an m83 album, but not as good. This band needs the human aspect of their electronic pursuits, because they can’t pull off just instrumental electronic. It then goes into “Heart Out,” which is one of those “The 1975” tracks I explained before, but this one is BETTER. This track would work perfectly as a single if they want to truly show off what they sound like. It’s also the most indie-sounding track off the album thus far.

“Settle Down” is the next track on the album. It’s very light-sounding, more human than many of the other tracks off the album. But at what cost? It’s kind of boring. Not enough is happening. Not really any emotion, and it doesn’t have enough music to it, it’s too redundant for a song that sounds like it’s trying to really say something as opposed to “Talk!” which was repetitive, but was allowed to be because it didn’t really say anything except “Why ya talk so loud?” “Settle Down” fades directly into “Robbers,” a mellower track that in contrast to “Settle Down” has much more emotion, and the translation of that emotion is successful. It tells a story that is all too familiar in the realm of songwriting, but the singer begs “Let’s give it one more try,” and you care about the response to this cry. When he belts out his heart near the end of the song, it’s dramatic and wonderful and I see the woman he cares about standing outside in the rain, and I want him to run after her and give her a jacket and take her upstairs.

This is followed by “Girls,” one of the singles off the album, which I find to be oddly placed after the emotional and great previous track. This one sounds more like a boy-band track sung by one person. It’s like they intended to release this track for the sole purpose of drawing attention to the band, and I disrespect that. I thought the band was better than that; the lyrics and meaningless “happy” guitar sounds are quite stupid. This goes into “1:20,” another meaningless interlude on an album that I question its importance on. This album would be unchanged without these electronic interludes. Either way, the next track is “She Way Out,” another more poppy track, but not as dumb as “Girls,” in fact, it’s another “The 1975” track, yet it doesn’t really have any substance. It’s doesn’t have smart instrumentation, yet it does have structure and movement.

“Menswear” is a track that ebbs and flows like an electronic pop ocean for the first half, and it does it in a very smart way, and I’m actually surprised considering the earlier instrumental tracks. I wouldn’t have minded if the whole track was a continuation of that. But even so, the addition of the vocals and the rest of the band act as a kind of expansion to the track as it was. The only issue is, the song feels totally incomplete WITH the lyrics. The song should have had no words, more words, or another two minutes of no words at the end. The way they made it didn’t feel like a finished product. Then it’s “Pressure,” a nice pop song with a catchy hook that works as a song with nothing particularly special about it. It’s another good song that may not be remembered except for the fact that it was near the end of the album. Speaking of, the final track of the album, “Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You,” is a slow piano melody, a seemingly traditional thing to do (I’m not complaining!). For me, it’s hard to criticize these kinds of songs, and I don’t know how genuine the lyrics are to this person, but the way I hear it and the way he sings it is emotional and wonderful and although not fitting to the context of the album, which was mostly upbeat, it works as a last track to this album filled with many songs.

The album overall feels very long, even though it’s under an hour, because it’s filled with songs that are repetitive and don’t stand out on their own. It’s like dead weight on the album. I know the band has been around for a while, but it still is an impressive debut album, especially because they’re able to make that “1975” sound. Every band wants their own sound and this one has it, shared with few others. But, I may have mentioned before but been unclear, this band is at its best when they DON’T stick to that sound. I like the risks they take, they’re usually worth the chance. I hope this band is able to really impress me in the future.

Best tracks: “M.O.N.E.Y.;” “Heart Out;” “Robbers;” “Sex”
Not so great tracks: “Girls;” “Settle Down;” all the interludes

FINAL RATING: 6/10