Review Summary: But don't forget to forget you forgot me, When I show up at your door. I'm gonna remember that you are my friend, and fall asleep on your floor."
From the first few seconds of the album opener "Porno and Snuff Films" it's apparent that The Lawrence Arms are back with a vengeance with catchier tunes and better production, the song title also makes it clear that the sense of humor and scathing social commentary is still there as well. Coming off of the band's less than stellar first two albums,
Apathy and Exhaustion is where the band finally found their sound, and this record would set the standard for all of their future releases. A lot can be learned from the second track as well, "The First Eviction Notice" has Chris finally singing lead on his own song, and yikes that is some blatant obvious auto-tune, but hey, if it took auto-tune to make Chris finally comfortable with his voice and his style than I'm cool with that because his major presence was the biggest component missing from the band's first two records. Chris also contributes the band's first iconic song, the ever so tender ballad "Your Gravest Words" (Its also the track that super user Satellite got his name from.) This song, along with his three other contributions "First Eviction Notice," "Brick Wall Views," and "Right As Rain Pt.2" tend to be more serious in tone and break up Brendan's break neck tales of drunken disorder quite nicely making the band a formidable two headed beast.
Apathy and Exhaustion is the first amazing record by The Lawrence Arms that finally lived up to Chris and Brendan's old band The Broadways; with Brendan's hopelessly infectious tracks "Navigating The Windward Passage," "Boatless Booze Cruise," and "Corpse of My Motivation;" along with Chris' tender ballads make
Apathy and Exhaustion one hell of a ride. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to have a beer with these dudes because that's the biggest strength of the band, their highly relatable and well crafted lyrics and music that make you feel like you're just one of the boys, getting drunk and having a good time in sweet sour home Chicago.
