Review Summary: The sound of community coming together in loss.
The first three seconds of
do you believe in your heart?! will almost certainly evoke a visceral response from listeners. The vocals of Jordan Weinstock seemingly choose to completely embrace the cliche complaints against vocalists of their ilk. Almost every vowel in opening line
“I don’t really wanna be here right now” is elongated and nasally to the mX. What might appear as jarring to some listeners doubles as a brilliant way to introduce the stylistic and emotional journey that is packaged in the EPs five tracks, as that specific overly-exaggerated vocal styling is never seen again to that extent across the runtime, but the emotional reaction that it induces is essentially constant. That isn’t to say that american poetry club have created a listening experience that will make you wince, but they have created one that will garner strong emotional responses; responses of sadness, yes, but also of joy and warmth and togetherness, all bundled together in a very human manner.
Musically, opening track “thank you x3” is also a fairly accurate encapsulation of what to expect across
do you believe in your heart?!, which is somewhere between twee emo and lo-fi bedroom pop, but not quite either. The bombastic last minute of the opening track is something entirely different, as it bursts alive with group vocals and shouts, trumpet, and a perfectly crafted cacophony created by the band’s six members. When I say this track encapsulates the sound of the EP, that is as much in emotional style as it is in musical style. Second track “the exit” is fairly different in execution but from the rest of the EP, essentially best-described as if mewithoutYou and Foxing teamed up to make a low-key version of “Ocean Avenue”. However, even with this differing style, the imprint of american poetry club is clear on the track. Each song has a layer of sounds, with “the exit” perhaps being the best signifier of this trait, as a fifties style pop guitar riff is somehow paired perfectly with trumpet playing, synthesized chords, and a drum performance that’s heavy in bass pedal. Across the EP, this is a band that is clearly in tune with each other as they make off-the-wall decisions that, when melded together, manage to make perfect sense.
The composition of american poetry club’s music manages to evoke thoughts of Midwestern Emo and math rock without ever relying heavily on, or even really using, jangly guitars or overtly-intricate riffs. While their music, and especially prior output, may be influenced by many bands from the early 2000s and the emo revival of the mid 2010s,
do you believe in your heart?! has updated the sound with lo-fi and bedroom pop stylings, and even glimmers of post-rock, making them not sound derivative or even all that similar to bands of those eras. Even the aforementioned emotional reaction varies greatly from many of the band’s predecessors and contemporaries. Yes, much of it may be
sad and based in loss and hopelessness, but it is also based in the joy and resilience of having community. Beyond that hope, the band is clever with their lyrics as they are with their music. “underneath the pillows (reprise)” shows the growth of the band, as it is a rethinking of a previous release, but also has a subversion of the “If I had to kill you . . .” cliche that elicited a genuine laugh on my first listen and “the light in” somehow manages to genuinely and unironically incorporate a sample from
Paddington 2.
do you believe in your heart?! is also short, even for an EP, clocking in at under fourteen minutes. While that does mean that some moments, namely “the light in”, appear to be good ideas that haven’t yet become fully fleshed out, there is also no filler to be found across that concise run time. Closer “one day we will both feel good and fine and free!” ends that experience with an exclamation point, both literally and figuratively. This is the most simple song on the entire EP, largely being only Weinstock’s vocals rising barely above a whisper with backing from simple picking on an acoustic guitar. The lyrics, again, are focused on the power that comes from not being alone. Each song across the EP features a “you” that is also a main character, a person or people that the narrator can rely on to always be there for support, no matter what or when the circumstance may arise. That “you” across the album, oftentimes, is also referencing a friend that has lost their life, a person who can no longer be a physical part of the community, but still remains with it spiritually and mentally. As the closer plays out with guitar and drum intertwining for the final minute, the two instruments working in tandem make clear the thesis of the album: Both are beautiful on their own, but, when brought together, a different kind of beauty can be found in their companionship.
