Review Summary: not a capital letter in sight.
There’s a fairly prescribed line that can be drawn for the youthful emo band to follow when maturing. Slow down, up the sophistication, be sad about ‘big thing’ not ‘small thing’. They obviously don’t have to follow suit, but if you’re deviating from the line you better have a damn good reason to do so (you’re named Foxing, mostly). Better bands than you have tried to stay young, and the biggest mistake these bands make is choosing to not move along the line at the speed that is
correct for themselves and their artistic sensibilities. Stagnating is the biggest risk, and the catchy chorus of your younger days all too often dwarfs the 3rd attempt to be anthemic. This brings us to saturdays at your place’s newest LP
these things happen, the mid-west emo trio’s third effort set at the crossroads of what it means to mature and how to hold on to your youth.
Opener (aptly named) “welcome” is a vibe setter, warm and lush, with layered acoustic guitar strums confidently overlaying the piano melody that turns quickly into the energetic punk backbone of sing-a-long follow-up “cross my heart”. It’s bite-sized and doesn’t overstay, a sayp tradition, if predictable and safe for their sound.
It’s when we get to album centerpieces that we see the growth that years in the scene and in the
scene (see: alive) can provide. ‘waste away’ starts subtly, twinkly and elusive, but it doesn’t stay there. The song grows and dynamics shift; the lead bounces from bass to guitar to vocal until it all comes together in cathartic release. It’s this songwriting trick that makes quite a difference in depth and replayability across the record, making the experience consistently engaging and rewarding. “what am I supposed to do?” follows and is decidedly grittier, relying more on vocal attitude and charm. But again, its disparate parts coalesce as the song progresses, reaching a fever pitch of frustrated shouts “everything I say is dumb, everything I say is wrong, can’t we all just get along?” by the song’s, rather gripping, peak.
Now that line does highlight a small gripe, lyrically we’re still a little behind the evolution that the songwriting has made. We’re still in a pretty immature realm, being sad about ‘small thing’ more often than not. At times influences are worn too on our sleeves as well, late highlight “stay” could be a Tigers Jaw cut and closer “i give in” feels an awful lot like a folk-less Pinegrove, but in both cases the musicianship is graceful enough for it not to detract.
these things happen finds saturdays at your place settling in. It’s an excellently produced and tightly tied 30 minutes of midwest emo from a band finding the top of their game at a rate much faster than their contemporaries, while displaying a depth of songwriting only hinted at in their early discography. Couldn’t tell you what wave of emo we’re on at this point but learning from your elders on how to age doesn’t change, and it’s exciting to see how well just following the footsteps can turn out.
