Review Summary: Feelin' Indigo...
The Story So Far have always made me feel conflicted - their up-tempo angry take on pop punk actually makes me feel happier than bands who perform happy, bouncy (and boring) pop punk. I think the biggest reason for that is the balance between emotional congruence and dissonance. Their signature style seems to be pairing power chord chugging instrumentals with angry, energetic vocal delivery and lyrics mostly about frustration, anger and sadness. The sound works because the energy of the instrumentals matches that of the vocals, and while the riffs don't sound sickeningly over-cheery like an All Time Low song, they're so solid and infectious that they still inspire happiness. Though TSSF have always taken inspiration from emo, the atmosphere on their self-titled effort aligns perfectly with how vocalist Parker Cannon feels - indigo.
The album opens with a modulating ringing guitar, which seemed to me like a non-exceptional way to build up the album. But then I realised that it's basically the same opening as on their previous album 'What You Don't See', except twisted with pitch-warping and a fuzzy aesthetic. This musical dissonance supports the dissonance between the track's title, 'Smile', and the lyrics on the track ("I know its been a while, but I will not fake this stupid smile"). When the track kicks in, it showcases a sound that is clearly still TSSF, but much more focused than their past work. For instance, while they used to place the noodling of the lead guitar somewhere between the forefront and background of the soundscape, on this album the band simply embraces the lead guitar as a way to strengthen the background power chords and add texture. This allows the band's real showcase, Parker Cannon, to take the lead even more than on their past work.
Parker's vocal delivery is fierce, energetic and sensitive all at once. On the track 'How You Are', he directly contrasts his loud high-register choruses with a gentle, almost defeated delivery, to complement his solemn lyrics ("I keep my distance now, Forcing my jaw to smile"). His vocals are pretty much what make some of the choruses here so infectious, like on 'Heavy Gloom'. In fact, most of the high points on this album can be attributed to Parker's singing, such as the start of the final chorus on 'Distaste' where he desperately yells at his lost love 'Why'd you leave it?'. However, at times this album goes overkill in the vocal department, with 'Solo' having pretty much one moment of the song without Parker's singing, and with 'Distaste' doing the same by giving Parker a choice between three notes for the most part (though I do still love the song). Though these have been minor issues on their past work, they never stuck out as much as they do on this album.
Though this album takes a step backwards in the vocal department, the band really steps up their grooves on this album. For instance, the aforementioned 'Distaste' is simple, but has a fantastic 6/8 groove which is just so much fun. The same goes for closing track 'Stalemate', which impressed me by managing to pull off a 5/4 time signature in a pop punk track. As the guitar parts and songwriting have been simplified, the album really depended on having something to make up for it, and the beats here do well at that.
The album is deliberately static lyrically, as Parker closes the album by coming to terms with the fact that he'll always be singing songs about the girl(s) who broke his heart ("I won't calm down, I'll never let it be"). It feels almost like although he tried making the album about something else, he kept coming back to the same event but from a different angle. That applies to TSSF's musical development as well - this self-titled album is still pop punk, but played much more concisely and through a darker lens. While this album isn't necessarily better than 'What You Don't See', it's certainly more focused, and a strong development for the band.
