Review Summary: For certain people, things will happen in their lives that will make this album speak to them in ways other music simply can't. For those people, you have my heartfelt condolences.
Shapeshifter is an interesting album. It's not really a sophomore album, as Knuckle Puck had built up a lot of early experience and exposure releasing a slew of EP's they themselves considered to be akin to a full LP - before their big breakout with Copacetic. Shapeshifter thus has the maturing of sound you would normally expect out of a third LP in a band's career, with the desire to develop and explore new areas. The recording of the album was also somewhat of a traumatic journey for the band, and in interviews they expressed their frustrations with the project, feeling disconnected with one another, and stopping the recording process after a month to tour, work on the music more, then reshape the album later.
The finished product wears its history. Looking back on it now, it wasn't clear when the album was released and was the latest addition to the Knuckle Puck discography, but this is the album that bridges the gap between the old Knuckle Puck and the new. You can hear the growing pains, the desire to do something different, be something different, and to affect change. "You're a shapeshifter you're never gonna change the world" and "like plastic brains we change" echo the sentiments surrounding and within the sonic landscape of the album. So what was this change?
Copacetic was a break out hit for the boys from Illinois. A certified Tumblr classic, it was a solid emo album packed with anthems that saw (or heard) the band experimenting with more complex song structures and ideas. It broke new ground for the band, and showed their developments and maturity from the string of short, tight and straightforward EP's they started their career with. I can only imagine the sort of fan mail and attention an album like that would bring. Later in their career Knuckle Puck would articulate that they wanted to make music that lifted people up, leading to substantial departures from the band's sound in 20/20. Songs like Earthquake showed that the band, while talented, had their real skill laying in penning heartfelt emo ballads carried by the powerful and unique vocals of Joe Taylor. That is quintessential Knuckle Puck. The thing they can do that nobody else can. Write emo anthems so powerful and with such energy, you barely notice the dark content of the lyrics; No Good being the prime example of this. And so I'm not surprised that Shapeshifter is that bridging album in their discography, because it showcases their emo songwriting abilities at their best. That is the change.
I would argue that the proper place to begin listening to this album is not Nervous Passenger, but Plastic Brains. It's a song brimming with promise and ideas that never quite captures the moment it seems to be building to. Like change, it is awkward, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. Knuckle Puck often overextended beyond their abilities in trying to write cerebral music, and the awkward metaphor in the chorus showcases this. Then there are a slew of tracks that contain hints of the brilliance that Knuckle Puck are occasionally capable of, coming through in moments of Gone and Everyone Lies to Me, before the album, and the band, find themselves hitting the home runs they were always capable of in the final third of the act. Beginning with Want Me Around and progressing through Conduit, Wait and back to Plastic Brains, your ears will be feasting on some of the finest emo sounds put out that decade. Complex ideas, poetic imagery, engulfing musicianship, building crescendos, lyrics that are more than just about love and loss, but about human connection and what that does. This is new Knuckle Puck, with the strength of the old.
This album holds a special place in my heart. Yes its short, but in punk that's not really a crime. Enema of the State originally clocked in under 30mins and that's a perfect album. This album is not perfect, but it does find moments of perfection in the cascading crescendos of Wait and Conduit, and the sober reflections of Want Me Around. For some of us, or maybe just for me, listening to this album can pinpoint exact memories and wrench the emotions of them from the abyss in the back of my mind. I hear the recorded sounds of the CTA, and it reminds me of the last time I saw her board the train home, not knowing that it was the last time I'd ever see her again. The rush of the music fills my head with the memory of her getting on the plane to Scotland on secondment, leaving me forever, but with a promise before she left. Never fulfilled. Yes, it is an emo album by just a bunch of mid 20's boys from Illinois, but that does not make the subject matter trivial. Change is a constant, it's not always pleasant, and for those most unpleasant of changes Shapeshifter is there to tell you "I get it man, is this how it felt?". Yeh, that's how it felt, thankyou Shapeshifter. This album is the pill I take when I want to remember rather than forget. Let me hurt one more time, so I can remember that it was real. Those memories may hurt me, but I want them. When I accidentally scroll down too far in my phone's picture gallery and see the old pictures of her I can't bear to delete, I take this album. My life may have changed, I may be changing, but having a soundtrack to get me across, that is what elevates this album.
Maybe you won't have that connection with this album, maybe for you, its just another batch of Knuckle Puck songs. Some of them good, some of them bad. Maybe you're able to stand back objectively and say "while certainly heartfelt, there's nothing that great going on here". Different events happen to everyone at different times in their lives. Maybe you never needed a Shapeshifter to relate to, maybe you need After the Party or The Hum Goes on Forever. On the one hand, it is just an album by somewhat regular Joes going through heartbreaks commonplace to nearly anyone and everyone, but that doesn't mean its trivial. So many modern punk songs are about love or heartbreak, because those things really matter. And we buy those albums by the truckload, because we need them.
