Album Rating: 3.5

nah they didn't! i actually thought they were when it was just them on stage but was much happier that they played Belly, not the hugest fan of I scare myself really.

seems to be the consensus based on the sput average for the "scare" single but oh man, it's quite a standout track for me. like not one of my fave smithies tracks of all time but still kinda remarkable: the vocal melodies are freaking gorgeous, and the rhythmic phrasing that's used on them is both strikingly inventive and perfectly fitting (like each phrase directly corresponds with the cresting and falling of the melody, so when each phrase ends, the momentum and impact behind each phrase is prolonged before the next one starts). + lucy's performance blows me away--fucking gutwrenching whenever she hits a high note in the first minute or so of the song--and then somehow when paired/contrasted with wil's voice, i unno man theres somethin incredible goin on there (like in the "dance" verse for example maybe it's how wil sounds kinda downtrodden in the lower register and lucy's just reachin for the stars, strainin her voice to grab the highs; maybe it's the effect of hearin those two things side by side omggggg love it so much). a shame that it seems so out of place in their discog cuz i think it's a huge achievement for wil as a songwriter; pretty unorthodox and as a result of that it's freakin stunning.

Album Rating: 3.5

Yeah look I don't hate it but I don't love it either. I feel maybe it should have gone under Wil's solo discog rather than SSB as it seems out of place in theirs like you mentioned

Album Rating: 4.5

the almighty bump

this band keeps gettin bigger and thas great but i think the songwriting is gettin a little stadium rock. peeps made the same complaint about sunshine but then these guys put out TMITR which was even bigger but actually had the urgency to back it up. on this record theres a lotta hooks and big moments but they feel a little like they were just inserted into the songs when it should instead feel like the songs build naturally towards these big moments. "shine" is a glaring example cuz the outro starts like halfway thru the song, so the big end part doesnt feel rlly justified. "song for you" also feels a bit artificially inflated cuz the chorus pops up twice in the first half of the song as if to just fill gaps between the verses (which are phenomenal). "death to the lads" leans real heavily on its hooks. "it kills me" and "young once" have real big moments and little else in em but arent inherently lackluster; they just needed more really good songs to precede them so that they could comfortably sit in the tracklist as gigantic interlude/outro numbers. essentially, those songs are like the big moments in those songs i was talkin about before: they dont feel completely justified cuz the preceding songs in the tracklist dont fully build up towards them.

tl;dr hope wil writes fewer epic choruses/outros for songs that arent inherently epic

Album Rating: 4.5

yeah i think this is about as uhh big as it can get at this point musically for these guys, rosenstock’s infinitely widening scope i think has been noticeably effecting the Smithies’ sound ever since they hired him as a producer and dropped TMITR which was pretty diff but that record was definitely more cathartic and almost kinda emo so ¯_(ツ)_/¯



tl;dr this is still fine but yeah too extreme of anything is bad, but there’s still gems here and there’s a solid enough balance of everything for the album to feel so well-fitted imo

Album Rating: 3.5

so tempted to see them tonight at the croxton despite seeing them last Thursday...

Album Rating: 3.5

also did anyone see Wil's post from Sunday? They're growth in popularity makes me proud but also really sucks because it has brought a lot of dickheads along with it, lads getting rowdy during death to the lads just makes me cringe.

uh oh wil bout to get #metoo'd instagram.com/bitchinbrujeria

Well I just read the emails he sent to Georgia (violating a restraining order she had) and it's some of the most absolutely pathetic shit I've ever seen. Dude is a whiny fucking creep.

Album Rating: 4.0

From the mind behind Suffer and It Kills Me to Have to Be Alive indeed. People are ugly, no doubt.

Album Rating: 3.5

this felt kinda inevitable

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

yeah a whole lot of this album just became super fuckin gross and uncomfortable. might ask to have this review deleted

Album Rating: 3.5

Where are the emails?

https://www.facebook.com/jake.lucas666/posts/10103098789652808

And again I'd like to point out these emails violate a restraining order Georgia got against him, and it's not the first time he's violated the restraining order. Pathetic scum.

Album Rating: 4.0

At the risk of sounding as though I'm defending him, I don't think those emails should be public -- nor do I think he's a piece of shit. I don't think the issue is so much the restraining order, either. He should not have sent those emails -- and no one deserves to be talked to like that -- but the sentiment of the emails is one not only reflected throughout this album (with the added benefit of retrospectivity, of course, because time heals and all that), but also one I'm sure most people have felt at some point or another. It's written from the perspective of a downtrodden, mentally ill man in the heat of the moment; and though what he did was wrong, to speak of it as abuse (and to bring it, almost three years after the fact, into the public sphere) is unfair and irresponsible.

I don't know, though. I'm willing to admit my stance is wrong. God knows I'm defensive of my favourite artists. This kind of public discourse always just feels motivated by spite, especially when it was dealt with in court already.

It's a nuanced thing certainly, and I absolutely agree that the emails should never have been made public, but I personally think his behavior is unacceptable, but I'm willing to concede that's because I had an ex send emails like this to me and it was by far the worst shit anybody has ever said to me, so it just hits close to home.

I absolutely see where you're coming from, though.

Album Rating: 3.5

Their relationship is incredibly fucked up and they're both flawed people, I'm inclined to lean towards blush on this too, this should never have been made public. Not defending wil, his behavior is not on but I'm sure Wil had examples of Georgia being abusive too, I don't think she's innocent in this either.

Honestly, yeah, y'all are right, I'm letting my personal experiences influence my thinking and need to walk it back a little