Review Summary: A shallow achievement.
A shallow achievement, not in that the achievement itself is shallow, but that it is an achievement in shallow. “Shallow” being defined as an album that never really
means anything.
How It Feels To Be Something On represents no culture. It epitomizes no scene or genre. It’s certainly not life changing, or even emotionally stirring. But it’s still
perfect, because every song on it is effectively perfect. Every song is a masterpiece, not for what it makes you feel, but for it’s own musical flawlessness. And somehow,
How It Feels actually
is the sum of parts, a shallow, yet undeniably perfect record.
Which is funny, because that’s essentially the opposite of what Sunny Day Real Estate did with
Diary. It’s essentially the opposite of
emo, or emo as Sunny Day Real Estate made it. It seems by the very nature of emo that there could never be a
perfect emo album, because emo thrives on its imperfections. This is why
How It Feels To Be Something On is so shocking, because it sees Sunny Day Real Estate reversing the idea that they founded just a few years before. Listening to
How It Feels suggests that Sunny Day Real Estate set out with the primary intention of making the perfect album, and they destroyed every convention by just
doing it. It’s a marvel because it violates the main rule that its creators established with
Diary in laying every emotion on the line and saying THIS IS HOW WE FEEL. This isn’t how they feel, this isn’t how anyone feels, and while it seems nearly blasphemous to say
How It Feels To Be Something On is among the greatest emo albums of all time for this reason, such is completely true.
