Review Summary: An album that promises everything and gives us... Something...
Max Bemis is a really confusing guy and in a lot of ways, his music reflects that. From the heights of Is a Real Boy to the awful Hebrews or the intentionally bloated ...In Defense of The Genre... Max has always done what he wanted to do with the band. With mixed results...
Max teased this album saying that it was going to be a return to form/sequel to the style of Is a Real Boy... So inevitably comparisons are going to be made between the albums. Which, you are probably asking. Is it JUST as good as Is a Real Boy? No, but it was never going to be.
That isn't where the album's problems lie, however. The album CLAIMS to be a "concept album" that isn't really a concept album at all. The album and Max by extension want me to think these songs are connected when they very clearly aren't. Most songs on the album come across as "Max Rants" which Say Anything has always done very well. No complaints on this, at all. What is annoying is when Max then jumps out of nowhere to a story about a homosexual young adult and then retroactively claims that it was SOME-***ING HOW all connected and it's the same character from Is a Real Boy...
Now, if you are still following me you are probably laughing at the idea of Say Anything doing a concept album. You would be right to laugh because the attempt at a "narrative" sounds so half-hearted that you could make the case that Science Fiction is a concept album. However, none of that tells you if that actual MUSIC is good... So, is it?
Here is why I felt I needed to write this at all... The album itself is disjointed, underwritten, and at times brilliant with it's approach to self-deprecation. There are songs like "Ew Jersey, "Mouthbreather," "Send You Off, or "When I'm Acid" that are either completely forgettable or laughably underwritten. However on the other hand you have "Greased" which a gigantic "*** you" to Bemis himself AND the hypocrisy of the "liberal bourgeoisie"
In these moments we have the formula for CLASSIC Say Anything, but we mostly get catchy tunes like "Daze," "Pink Snot," "The Band Fuel," and "Sediment." A great closing track that ends with a spoken word outro.
All in all... The album isn't up to its own ass like Good Luck Everybody but, it's not a perfect goodbye such as Science Fiction was, but then again, maybe it wasn't trying to be. "Concept" aside the album is a good collection of songs with a few songs you will probably skip over after repeated listens. At least it's not a trainwreck like Hebrews was... AND thank christ for that...
