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tiny_voicesSometime around October of last year I finally listened to the entire album What It Is to Burn by Finch after really enjoying a couple of its tracks for a long time. I ended up playing that album a lot, really digging into it. So then I did a similar thing with their following album, Say Hello to Sunshine, released in 2005. I think I didn't jump right into this follow up until yesterday because the tracks I had enjoyed didn't hit quite the same as the previous album; they were a little different, a little farther from the usual vibe of things I listen to over and over. A bit of a departure, one might say. It's easier to listen to the thing you already love than try to get into the newer, slightly different thing that you might not like as much. Worst case scenario is that you're disappointed, let down.
But then, there's always the chance that the newer, slightly different thing is actually good: a new flavor of good, a new thing to chomp chomp on. Life is good sometimes, because this was the case with Say Hello to Sunshine.
This was a fun new (to me) album week because I indulged in my emo bullshit. With the other albums I've reviewed here before, I haven't gone back and listened through them again aside from a couple of tracks, whereas with this one, I've already played through most of the songs multiple times and I fully expect to continue doing so. It's exciting to listen to an album and realize rather quickly that it's going to enter frequent rotation-- especially since I already really dug Finch's first album. It's a "holy shit, two cakes!" moment. Even when the songs didn't check the "banger" box on first impression, I could tell that they just needed time to cook. I would warm up to them, it would just take a few listens. I think that's kind of rare.
Throughout my initial listen, I was comparing and contrasting this album to the previous because I had been given the impression that it was a slight change in direction, or more accurately, a development of the band's sound that wasn't as popular. It can be tricky to tell if YouTube commenters' sentiment that this album should've been just as big or even bigger than its predecessor is a sign that it really is that good, or just that they're upset their obscure fave remained obscure. I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of Finch, unlike other bands; I only became aware of their existence within the last year, so I missed out on putting my obsessive teenage enthusiasm into them like I did for Green Day and blink-182 and the like. So, I didn't know if Finch were the kind of band to make two good albums in a row, or if they'd be the kind of band that makes one really good album and then the rest are kinda mid. The latter does happen sometimes. Anyway, my conclusion is that yes, this album is a different flavor, but it's still a good, hearty meal. I've been trying to avoid describing it as "less poppy" than What It Is to Burn, but maybe that's the term for it. It's heavier, for sure. That makes me cringe less to type, so let's go with that.
Perhaps the most clear step forward between albums is in the lyrics. The lyrics on this album go so hard, and I highlighted a lot of them on my first listen. Often they pertain to the body; lots of mention of flesh and blood and sickness, and talk of medicine and dying. There's also the occasional reference to God and the devil, so in combination, the album's lyrics give this creeping, unwell, almost apocalyptic feeling. Not so much in a "the whole world is ending" way, but a "my body is failing, I feel sick, and everything feels grim" way. At one point in my notes I coined the term "hypochondriangst," and at several points I described the lyrics as cunty. Maybe you, dear reader, think it's silly to describe a 2005 post-hardcore album as cunty, but trust me, it is. I know these things. I was forged in emo bullshit.
Not only are many of the lines dropped in this album cunty, so are the vocals. My man Nate Barcalow can fucking sing. And scream. I know virtually no vocal terminology or science, but he's clearly talented, and I don't normally note that when I listen to music. He has the range, and I don't mean the range of notes he can sing (although I don't not mean that either), but he does lots of little things to add a lot to the songs. He belts, he screams, he does these cunty little taper-offs, he does these creepy whispers, and sometimes he just really enunciates words in a way that scratches the brain. The verses on "Ink" are a good example of that. He gets a lot of bang for his buck on this album.
I've read that this album dabbles in some other genres besides emo/post-hardcore, namely math rock. Honestly, I don't really know what math rock is, but what I can say is that the funky time signatures and (comparably) less conventional melodies are what make this album not as easily consumed as the previous. Many of the tracks are not instantly sing-along-able, have slightly unusual rhythms, and even the single "Bitemarks and Bloodstains" doesn't feel as radio-ready as the previous album's singles (compare it to "Letters to You" and the difference is pretty clear). Beyond this factor, though, this album still has a lot of fun instrumental stuff happening it. There are some cool guitar riffs that make me wish they went on for longer. "Fireflies" has this bold bass sound in the intro that I wish were present in other songs as well. Occasionally there are additional little effects that add depth to the music, make it more cinematic, but it's never too far or over-dramatic for the genre(s) we're working with here. Just cool shit. You know? Sometimes the best way to describe something is just "cool."
I won't do a full track-by-track breakdown, but I will list some highlights for each one. I feel the songs deserve their own shout outs. (Shouts out?)
Insomniatic Meat: What a title; the lyrics remind me of nights of anxiety dreams and bad sleep; a HELL YEAH moment with "this is the worst thing you have ever done" lines at the end.
Revelation Song: Fun circular sort of riffing; the vocals creeping up into screams is my shit; breakdown!
Brother Bleed Brother: Love the vocals at the beginning; I'd describe the guitaring here as "dire;" bit of a riff that returns in a later track.
A Piece of Mind: "A pound of flesh or regret, tied to a marionette, loop around my neck." Yeah!; "Cold shades of sanity are bleeding over / I broke apart the disguise, the demons live in the eyes and underneath your breath / a softly spoken death." YEAH!; "This man is using his mind as a weapon / and woe betide the creature who steps into his garden / let's see if I can't get it on me / let's see if I can't him all over my hands." Cunty!!!
Ink: Was already familiar with this one, it's a jam with funky timing and lyrics, plus those creeping whisper-vocals; the lyrics in the second verse remind me of that scene in Bound where the mob guys are cutting that dude's fingers for information.
Fireflies: BASS INTRO; "They say silence is golden / loneliness never shined like this / diseased the leper sits / the leper is me;" cool harmonies in the bridge; cool drum fills between verse and chorus.
Hopeless Host: "Stomach won't digest demons / one wound for every reason why;" this song could also be called "Monster's Religion" which would fuck; slower quieter bridge going into a big and loud screaming ending.
Reduced to Teeth: The title!; cunty yet again; fun little harmonic guitar transition; the bridge emulating Humpty Dumpty of all things; screaming "murder" at the end.
A Man Alone: Tempo picks up before mellowing in the verses; "Cut off all loose ties and bleed for days / who could stand veins with friends like these?" GO OFF; nice long scream; perfect ending.
Miro: This one kinda suggests a cyclical theme, like the cycle of being sick, getting medicine and treatment, focusing back on emotional and social issues, getting sick again, so on; liminal space kinda jam.
Ravenous: LET'S GO; beancore jam that was my favorite basically immediately; perfect delivery to the verses; "Fire and brimstone / remove the back bone / say hello to sunshine / wake up, you're baptized;" screaming about man's greed; "Something to believe in is something to be."
Bitemarks and Bloodstains: Most immediately sing-along-able song on the album probably, with one of the best choruses; guitars working vibes; "Maladjusted, you must trust me, darling / subsequentially you see that you deserve more than me;" shout-along-able bridge.
The Casket of Roderic Usher: Speedy and lots of screaming; flesh and burial and contagious corpses; almost doesn't sound like the same band as the rest of the album.
Dreams of Psilocybin: Unsettling intro with reversed(?) choppy vocals; "Satire's no match for a matter of fact / that's blasphemy!" Muffled whispers about spooky shit; Satan and/or grim reaper vibes.
So yeah, really cool album. I look forward to listening to it too much for the next week or so. Makes me want to listen to the band's other album too. Long live emo bastards.
But then, there's always the chance that the newer, slightly different thing is actually good: a new flavor of good, a new thing to chomp chomp on. Life is good sometimes, because this was the case with Say Hello to Sunshine.
[click to read the rest]
This was a fun new (to me) album week because I indulged in my emo bullshit. With the other albums I've reviewed here before, I haven't gone back and listened through them again aside from a couple of tracks, whereas with this one, I've already played through most of the songs multiple times and I fully expect to continue doing so. It's exciting to listen to an album and realize rather quickly that it's going to enter frequent rotation-- especially since I already really dug Finch's first album. It's a "holy shit, two cakes!" moment. Even when the songs didn't check the "banger" box on first impression, I could tell that they just needed time to cook. I would warm up to them, it would just take a few listens. I think that's kind of rare.
Throughout my initial listen, I was comparing and contrasting this album to the previous because I had been given the impression that it was a slight change in direction, or more accurately, a development of the band's sound that wasn't as popular. It can be tricky to tell if YouTube commenters' sentiment that this album should've been just as big or even bigger than its predecessor is a sign that it really is that good, or just that they're upset their obscure fave remained obscure. I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of Finch, unlike other bands; I only became aware of their existence within the last year, so I missed out on putting my obsessive teenage enthusiasm into them like I did for Green Day and blink-182 and the like. So, I didn't know if Finch were the kind of band to make two good albums in a row, or if they'd be the kind of band that makes one really good album and then the rest are kinda mid. The latter does happen sometimes. Anyway, my conclusion is that yes, this album is a different flavor, but it's still a good, hearty meal. I've been trying to avoid describing it as "less poppy" than What It Is to Burn, but maybe that's the term for it. It's heavier, for sure. That makes me cringe less to type, so let's go with that.
Perhaps the most clear step forward between albums is in the lyrics. The lyrics on this album go so hard, and I highlighted a lot of them on my first listen. Often they pertain to the body; lots of mention of flesh and blood and sickness, and talk of medicine and dying. There's also the occasional reference to God and the devil, so in combination, the album's lyrics give this creeping, unwell, almost apocalyptic feeling. Not so much in a "the whole world is ending" way, but a "my body is failing, I feel sick, and everything feels grim" way. At one point in my notes I coined the term "hypochondriangst," and at several points I described the lyrics as cunty. Maybe you, dear reader, think it's silly to describe a 2005 post-hardcore album as cunty, but trust me, it is. I know these things. I was forged in emo bullshit.
Not only are many of the lines dropped in this album cunty, so are the vocals. My man Nate Barcalow can fucking sing. And scream. I know virtually no vocal terminology or science, but he's clearly talented, and I don't normally note that when I listen to music. He has the range, and I don't mean the range of notes he can sing (although I don't not mean that either), but he does lots of little things to add a lot to the songs. He belts, he screams, he does these cunty little taper-offs, he does these creepy whispers, and sometimes he just really enunciates words in a way that scratches the brain. The verses on "Ink" are a good example of that. He gets a lot of bang for his buck on this album.
I've read that this album dabbles in some other genres besides emo/post-hardcore, namely math rock. Honestly, I don't really know what math rock is, but what I can say is that the funky time signatures and (comparably) less conventional melodies are what make this album not as easily consumed as the previous. Many of the tracks are not instantly sing-along-able, have slightly unusual rhythms, and even the single "Bitemarks and Bloodstains" doesn't feel as radio-ready as the previous album's singles (compare it to "Letters to You" and the difference is pretty clear). Beyond this factor, though, this album still has a lot of fun instrumental stuff happening it. There are some cool guitar riffs that make me wish they went on for longer. "Fireflies" has this bold bass sound in the intro that I wish were present in other songs as well. Occasionally there are additional little effects that add depth to the music, make it more cinematic, but it's never too far or over-dramatic for the genre(s) we're working with here. Just cool shit. You know? Sometimes the best way to describe something is just "cool."
I won't do a full track-by-track breakdown, but I will list some highlights for each one. I feel the songs deserve their own shout outs. (Shouts out?)
Insomniatic Meat: What a title; the lyrics remind me of nights of anxiety dreams and bad sleep; a HELL YEAH moment with "this is the worst thing you have ever done" lines at the end.
Revelation Song: Fun circular sort of riffing; the vocals creeping up into screams is my shit; breakdown!
Brother Bleed Brother: Love the vocals at the beginning; I'd describe the guitaring here as "dire;" bit of a riff that returns in a later track.
A Piece of Mind: "A pound of flesh or regret, tied to a marionette, loop around my neck." Yeah!; "Cold shades of sanity are bleeding over / I broke apart the disguise, the demons live in the eyes and underneath your breath / a softly spoken death." YEAH!; "This man is using his mind as a weapon / and woe betide the creature who steps into his garden / let's see if I can't get it on me / let's see if I can't him all over my hands." Cunty!!!
Ink: Was already familiar with this one, it's a jam with funky timing and lyrics, plus those creeping whisper-vocals; the lyrics in the second verse remind me of that scene in Bound where the mob guys are cutting that dude's fingers for information.
Fireflies: BASS INTRO; "They say silence is golden / loneliness never shined like this / diseased the leper sits / the leper is me;" cool harmonies in the bridge; cool drum fills between verse and chorus.
Hopeless Host: "Stomach won't digest demons / one wound for every reason why;" this song could also be called "Monster's Religion" which would fuck; slower quieter bridge going into a big and loud screaming ending.
Reduced to Teeth: The title!; cunty yet again; fun little harmonic guitar transition; the bridge emulating Humpty Dumpty of all things; screaming "murder" at the end.
A Man Alone: Tempo picks up before mellowing in the verses; "Cut off all loose ties and bleed for days / who could stand veins with friends like these?" GO OFF; nice long scream; perfect ending.
Miro: This one kinda suggests a cyclical theme, like the cycle of being sick, getting medicine and treatment, focusing back on emotional and social issues, getting sick again, so on; liminal space kinda jam.
Ravenous: LET'S GO; beancore jam that was my favorite basically immediately; perfect delivery to the verses; "Fire and brimstone / remove the back bone / say hello to sunshine / wake up, you're baptized;" screaming about man's greed; "Something to believe in is something to be."
Bitemarks and Bloodstains: Most immediately sing-along-able song on the album probably, with one of the best choruses; guitars working vibes; "Maladjusted, you must trust me, darling / subsequentially you see that you deserve more than me;" shout-along-able bridge.
The Casket of Roderic Usher: Speedy and lots of screaming; flesh and burial and contagious corpses; almost doesn't sound like the same band as the rest of the album.
Dreams of Psilocybin: Unsettling intro with reversed(?) choppy vocals; "Satire's no match for a matter of fact / that's blasphemy!" Muffled whispers about spooky shit; Satan and/or grim reaper vibes.
So yeah, really cool album. I look forward to listening to it too much for the next week or so. Makes me want to listen to the band's other album too. Long live emo bastards.
