It finally happened. I waited all year for it, and it finally happened. From the time I heard the first single drop last September, I knew this album was going to be something special. Three more singles over the next 11 months, and every one of them was amazing. And finally, on August 14th, the album dropped, and it definitely did not disappoint. And even better, I made the 4-hour drive to Chicago on the day it released to see them live for the first time. This album was definitely worth the trip. My only regret is that I was so busy with other things in my life that I wasn’t able to review it any earlier than this.
I’ll start off with the four singles. The first one, “Linear Time”, is the final song on the album- a beautiful, emotional ska song about losing a loved one. It may be the most emotionally-charged, grief-filled ska song I’ve ever heard. Musically, lyrically, and vocally, this song manages to capture and elicit powerful emotions while still being an upbeat ska song that gets you moving.
While “Linear Time” hit hard and woke me up, the second single and title track of the album, “Death of the Party,” is what forced me to drive the four hours to see them live. I am not joking when I say that this is probably my favorite song ever. I have an extreme bias for political songs and social commentary. A song about literally eating the rich is going to win my heart- but the message alone isn’t nearly enough to make a song my favorite song of all time. The composition, the changes, the vocals, clever word play, every single thing in this song is flawless. I’m not lying when I tell you that the very first time I heard it, I immediately started sending it to at least a dozen people via DM, and asking other people if they had heard it yet. Even more incredible than just the song itself is how distinct it sounds from “Linear Time” (and their previous album). It begins with a big swing revival sound, has incredible horn parts, and despite having 9 members in the band, they manage to allow every part room to breathe.
The third single, Malas Raíces, is placed right before Death of the Party as the 2nd track on the album and flows so perfectly into it. Another strong track shifts in tempo so perfectly that it’s hard to believe the different parts are the same song, yet you never feel even the slightest bit of awkwardness or unease through the transitions. Lyrically, the song is a clever and emotional takedown of gentrification and the real estate industry, and has an aggressively paced Spanish-language verse as the climax of the song.
The final pre-release single was “Salvage”- a song reminding us that love is not a finite resource, begging us all to love and to open ourselves to be loved by everyone. A reminder of the strength of community, and, in the words of the song, none of us is better than all of us together.
But I knew all of this before the album was released. There were still 6 tantalizing tracks that I hadn’t heard, and I was desperate to find out how they would hold up to the 4 gems they had already put out into the world. The intro track to the album was the first opportunity to explore these songs, and “Cult of Idiocy” did not disappoint. My first thought when hearing the song was that the themes (definitely not the music) were similar to a ska-punk version of American Idiot- but then there is a hilariously perfect Green Day tribute later in the song, so I feel like the title and theme are intentionally similar. Towards the close of the song, the music mellows, and we get “Wake Me Up When The Empire Ends”, and it’s perfect, and beautiful, and fitting, and I couldn’t be happier.
The middle of the album doesn’t grab me nearly as much, lyrically. None of these songs draws me in like the first 3 or the last 4. However, instrumentally, they are fucking incredible. All three tracks have wildly different and often darker sounds, in some ways, at times reminding me of 80s and 90s electronic music- and these songs feel like they were written to showcase the band. Insane guitar and bass solos, keyboards, scrumptious drums that just eat you up, and absolutely phenomenal horn lines. The beginning of little black dots reminds me of David Bowie for some reason, and I was not expecting that- before the horns and guitars take turns getting darker and more aggressive, shredding, and then breaking back down. The number of changes had me thinking the track was supposed to be instrumental. “Victory Lap” is a lot slower, cleaner, and features punchy horns, an upbeat homage to moving on that moves into ska-rock at times. But the real gem in this part of the album is Gaslight Gary. The vocals on this track are amazing, and everything is made epic with the synth, horns, and guitars. This song feels like it’s the single from the album, the breakdowns are incredible, I can’t even begin to express how damn incredible this song feels- and what’s most amazing is that this is the part of the album I like the least. If this were the best song on the album, it could be a damn good album. Instead, I think it’s one of the worst songs on the best album of the year.
The two tracks I haven’t mentioned yet are paired together on the album on purpose. Their themes are opposite, their titles are inspired by each other, but neither title feels like it was the original title of the song, and the composition of the songs don’t feel like they were written together, but nonetheless, the themes and titles are inextricably tied together- “Ghosting My Therapist” and “Going to Therapy”. The former, a song about a mental health crash, hyperproductivity, and depression- the lies we tell ourselves instead of getting the help we need. The latter is a love note to yourself about self-improvement and a reminder that you are worthy of love and loving yourself.
“Ghosting My Therapist” is unsurprisingly upbeat and fast paced as the chorus screams “could a depressed person do this?” and the swing rhythms appropriately crash into fast paced, manic guitars swirling through lyrical descriptions of manic episodes, staying up all night doing simple chores that had been left untouched and abandoned for weeks in a blaze of glory and self denial, with the shouting “could a depressed person do this feeling ever more unhinged as the song goes on in what can only be described as one of the best uses of instrumental storytelling to perfectly convey the message of the lyrics.
The counterpart track, “Going to Therapy,” is slow and melodic- with a beautiful vocal style that seems unimaginable from the person who sang the previous two tracks. The lyrics begin like criticisms in a journal of self reflection- a harsh critique of one’s self, calling out your rage and venomous callous tongue, desperate cries for help, a response from a therapist, and what I like to think of as an allusion to the chorus in “Salvage” (whose chorus is “Love is abundant, no matter what they told you, so let it spill over the sides of your heart, cause none of us is better than all of us together, there is never any need for us to go it alone). A reminder that it’s hard to find love when you look at the world with bitterness and disgust. The whole song is beautiful and melodic, while the protagonist has a conversation with themselves, that they are worthy of love, but the bitterness and darkness are ever-present. That they are more than the sum of their thoughts, that they are full of rage and baked in internalized misogyny, and that they are growing and working on themselves and learning that their worth is their love for themselves. And the song ends in a beautiful declaration that they happen to love themselves a lot.
I think we all deserve that. This album is a powerful reminder that the world is fucked up. That there are corrupt systems in place. Whether it is songs about gentrification, capitalism, and global warming through our actions, the world is a stressful place, and it’s normal to struggle with it. But also, the world is filled with love and people who care about us, and we need to care about each other, love each other, and most importantly, learn to love ourselves.
Written by Gimp Leg
