Review Summary: I don't feel like myself anymore
You Blew It! have been running away from the sound that defined them for a couple of releases now. The Floridian quintet started off as an average twinkly emo band, but quickly evolved and put out their aptly titled debut album
Grow Up, Dude, and its bombastic guitar leads and yelly-singy vocal hooks firmly placed the band near the top of the emo revival totem pole. On You Blew It!’s follow up record
Keep Doing What You’re Doing, the band decided to strip away much of the twinkles and the fun that had defined them, which resulted in a much less enjoyable record. You Blew It!’s third release
Abendrot continues this trend to an alarming degree as the band strips away almost everything that made them enjoyable.
When You Blew It! strip away the elements of their sound that made them good, what’s left is slightly technical albeit completely middle of the road watered down indie rock with out of place emo lyrics. You Blew It! were never very original, but they were fun and catchy, and the depressing lyrics were sort of interesting because they contrasted very upbeat music. Throwing melodramatic lyrics over drab, mid-tempo indie rock just comes off as uncharismatic and boring. The only tracks that stick out are "Canary" and "Forecasting," and that’s because they’re the most upbeat, catchy, and fun, and actually sound like You Blew It! songs. "Autotheology" and "Minorwye" have a fuzzy, heavy sound that’s a stark contrast to the band’s previous material, almost to the point of being experimental, but it doesn’t matter because the songs are terrible. Heavily distorted dissonant riffs on a record that’s 90% easy listening indie just doesn’t mesh well. A crunchy breakdown followed by the lament “When God dies I’ll skip the funeral” is laughable no matter how you slice it.
You Blew It! seem to be on a mission to alienate fans of their early work and make the least enjoyable record possible, and with
Abendrot they have totally succeeded on both fronts.
Abendrot at its best is re-mindful to the listener of a time when the band was good, at its worst it’s cringe inducing, and most of the time it’s completely forgettable. In the middle of my second time listening to
Abendrot I realized that I needed to urinate. As I stood up to go to the bathroom I thought to myself “I should press pause so I don’t miss anything while I’m gone.” I then realized there was nothing to miss so I went to the bathroom without hitting pause. I took my time too.
