Review Summary: we're so(rta) back
Part of me wishes
Suicide and Sunshine just… sucked. It's the selfish part of me that knows I have to write about the record. It would've been so easy to review an album full of "OMW"s and "My Inheritance"s; middling cuts that would have allowed me to bash 2018’s
The American Dream (“at least they’re not as bad as most of that album!”) while questioning John Floreani’s decision to stray from his usual (excellent) vocal style in favour of unconvincing r&b-tinged performances (another victim of the Bad Omens-effect?). Hell, it would’ve been so damn easy to review an album full of “People Like You”s and “Sydney”s: I could’ve complimented Trophy Eyes for their attempts to recapture some edge while acknowledging that this edge was never what made 2016’s
Chemical Miracle such a phenomenal album (it was the e-word and the s-word (emotion and songwriting (you get me?))).
But alas, and thankfully,
Suicide and Sunshine is neither of those albums. It sure does include these aforementioned tracks - and they’re mid as hell - but as a whole, it’s much more, and muchish better. Firstly, as the band have indicated that this record was written as a swan song of sorts, it embodies a chance to do anything and everything they wanted to do before calling it quits. While this breakup may not come to fruition after all, it does afford
Suicide and Sunshine a sense of freedom and finality. This freedom (and lack of pressure to write a hit for da kids) allows for a near-total lack of atrocious moments a la “
thanks to everyone that bought tickets to my shows / I put all the money that you spent right up my nose” and avoids an overreliance on atrocious gang vocals (yay!), but also means that otherwise excellent bangers like “Blue Eyed Boy” come equipped with a totally unnecessary and highly off-putting protruding synth melody (nay :/).
Secondly, and most importantly, the sense of finality that underscores a decent chunk of
Suicide and Sunshine manages to construct two of Trophy Eyes’ very best songs amidst the somewhat admirable mess. The heart-wrenching ‘Sean’, a tribute to the late Sean Kennedy, portrays the band at their most vulnerable. It not merely encompasses the most raw and genuine performance by Floreani, but also his most poignant writing - rather than hiding behind the beautiful metaphors of
Chemical Miracle, the song is littered with blunt desperation and conveys the suffocating properties of loss. The subsequent “What Hurts the Most” feels like an antithesis of sorts, yet slots in perfectly after the gut-punch of “Sean”. By packaging a different flavour of grief in a simple, straightforward indie rock cut, the track manages to be the relief the tracklist needs - and also puts forth the best Trophy Eyes chorus since “Breathe You In”.
…and yet, this truly phenomenal stretch is part of an album that is as joy-inspiring (Trophy Eyes don’t suck anymore!) as it is disappointing (Trophy Eyes don’t suck anymore but they’re not as good as they probably should be). It’s an album that takes its title a little too literally: there’s happy moments, there’s sad moments, and they rarely inform one another or feel cohesive.
Suicide and Sunshine could be the band’s last album, and that would be fine with me. Simultaneously, I might just root for the continued existence of Trophy Eyes: while the selfish part of me wishes this album sucked, the even more selfish part of me wishes this album ruled. They may never write another excellent album, but songs like “What Hurts the Most” are too damn good for the world to miss out on.
