Review Summary: "If I stay in bed long enough/They'll go to church without me" - Sean Bonnette
AJJ have come a long way since their formation. This year, they have changed their name in an attempt to be less offensive and have released a track entitled ‘Now I’m At The Top Of My Game’ in which the band’s signature edgy and nihilistic lyricism was all but absent. Prior to this, they released their fifth album, Christmas Island, which many believe to be their worst output to date. The album was inconsistent, the lyrics repetitive and surprisingly meaningless, and the punk aspect of the band’s aesthetic had been hugely neglected. While criticising a band for maturing with their signature sound suggests a sense of unearned entitlement from their fans, it was confusing that there were still clear elements of AJJ’s previous work within the album but set amongst very cautious surroundings. Gone was the bitterness and irreverence that backed their inventive lyrics, and gone was the energy found in most of their songs. The band were clearly trying to move away from their punk roots but still seemed too attached to them to transition. Even now, their new band is edgily titled and sold for $6.66 through Bandcamp. Thus, it’s easy to see that the issue plaguing AJJ is an identity crisis.
In an interview with A Fistful of Vinyl on KXLU, Sean Bonnette speaks of how he wrote ‘Children of God’ after reading a book on songwriting that was given to him as a gift, using a spider-diagram method to create ideas. Along with this, he stated, “There is no wrong way to write a song.” Bonnette’s new creative thought process came at a bad time for a band lacking direction, and unfortunately, in the two years since Christmas Island was released, they seem to still be lost. The Bible 2 carries all of the flaws of Christmas Island, and then some. While Christmas Island still had enough good ideas on it to save the album from being entirely forgettable, a lot of them have been lost on their latest effort.
As previously mentioned with the album title and sales decisions, AJJ still want to be a punk band but without the punk. Only a couple of tracks on the album could legitimately be tagged as ‘punk’ while the band seem to have tried to achieve the best of both worlds by applying ungodly amounts of fuzz to achieve a lo-fi quality on any songs that are more than slow, guitar led ballads. The result is a forgettable, inconsistent selection of tracks that sound like b-sides from their previous release. Bonnette’s lyrics continue to be edgy and filled to the brim with references (often designed to be understood by only a couple of people), but there are few standout lines and a lack of the satirical edge that enhanced and carried songs on their more acclaimed works. He has also begun to rely on using the following formula: "I am/was a(n) (insert adjective and noun here)". It suggests that Sean has run out of anything interesting or inspiring to say.
Songs such as ‘Cody’s Theme’ and ‘Terrifyer’ are still filled with enough good ideas and energy to engage the listener, and the latter’s lyrics are arguably one of the only points on the album at which the band doesn’t shy away from their roots. ‘Goodbye, Oh Goodbye’ is a fun pop-rock number that makes for a good lead single, and is one of the few songs on the album in which the Cello feels warranted. ‘Small Red Boy’ is possibly the best anthemic track that the band have done since ‘Big Bird’. However, the rest of the tracks have fewer redeeming features. ‘Junkie Church’ would be a good song if it hadn’t already been done twice before in the forms of ‘Linda Ronstadt’ and ‘Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus’, and ‘No More Shame, No More Fear, No More Dread’ is a ballad without any of the elements that made songs such as ‘White Face, Black Eyes’ interesting listens, while ‘American Garbage’ features a synth lead which could be one of the worst musical choices the band has ever made.
At this point, AJJ really need to make a decision about which direction they want to move. If the band chooses to abandon their edgy folk punk roots, the band can focus on creating the lo-fi rock song they seem to be moving towards without carrying the baggage of expectation from their fans behind them. Alternatively, they can make a move back towards the more aggressive and irreverent sounds of Knife Man and accept that the watered down efforts of their fifth and sixth releases were not the right move. Either way, AJJ are clearly capable of making interesting music with high-class lyrics. They just need to stop sitting on the comfy bench by the signpost and choose a road.
