Review Summary: Scogin in stasis.
I’m not going to lie, when it comes to the general consensus of what I’ve seen since its release, you are all still sleeping on
Two Parts Viper, and thus are deemed tasteless wretches of society to me (and yes that is the hill on which I’ll die honorably), just to get that out of the way, but anyways Uh. When it came to preparing for my review of Josh Scogin and Nikko Yamada’s new slapsterpiece, I was coming to a struggle of how exactly to put into the right words of how this album
really resonates with me. It’s not Josh Scogin’s next step forward, but don’t get it twisted, this record is executed greatly on almost every front; it’s just the sound of Josh Scogin getting perhaps too comfortable with his own sound. And before you start commenting about “well ian! you silly goofy doodoo head, it’s a ‘68 record, of course it’s gonna sound like Josh Scogin getting more invested into his own personal sound palette you silly goose!” and to that I respond, 1) shut the fuck up my dad works for Microsoft, as well as 2) yeah you’re right; my opinion there is arguably uhhhh completely invalid. But the reason I bring it up is not to say
Give One Take One should be held to such standard. It’s just that since Scogin seemed to perfect his formula on their previous release, so what else was there to really do other than to keep exploring that sound? The guitars still ring, the cymbals both crash and burn with the force of a thousand suns, but besides what feels like “Josh Scogin Mad Libs” for song lyrics and new tricks from the same bag, as a fan I still feel like there’s something missing to me. Though at the same time, there’s nothing that really
genuinely misses on this record at the same time, it just doesn’t have the standout moments like the break in “No Apologies,” the groove and catchiness of “Whether Terrified or Unafraid,” or the cathartic climax like “What More Can I Say?” or even some of the hits off their debut. It just felt like I was listening to Josh Scogin and [insert ambiguous drummer name here] run through the rounds of what “a typical ‘68 album” would be, but didn’t come out with something truly gripping despite its impeccable recording/production job, and consequently leaves me feeling like I’ve missed something, or there’s something that’s not clicking with me that should, but with all that being said, it’s still a ‘68 record, and a goddamn banging one it is.
