Review Summary: Tigers Jaw release Charmer 2: This time, it's even drearier.
Tigers Jaw are best known for their earlier work, songs like Plane vs Tank vs Submarine being staples in the pop punk playbook. But times have changed, and with a full lineup overhaul save for their two vocalists prior to the release of Charmer, the band has taken on an altogether more mature, if somewhat sterile sound. Produced by Will Yip, who was responsible for Title Fight's Hyperview and Turnover's Peripheral Vision, Spin continues the trend of punk bands embracing a more laid back sound, taking influence from genres like shoegaze and dreampop. However, where Turnover triumphed, and Title Fight showed some signs of dynamic, entertaining songwriting, Tigers Jaw struggle to make anything that engaging or unique.
Let's be honest for a second; I didn't really like Charmer all that much, and Spin isn't a great overhaul of the sound heard on that album, continuing the non-descript, dreary rock that the band seems intent on pursuing. Spin's greatest flaw is how every single song, bar Escape Plan and Make It Up have almost no personality or defining features. Credit where credit's due, Escape Plan is a catchy acoustic tune that sticks out in the track listing, making for the album's most genuinely emotional moment. Make It Up is a much needed burst of energy at the tail end of the tracklisting, bumping up the tempo to provide some energy to a consistently placid and soporific album.
It's hard to pinpoint quite what's wrong with this album, other than that it's got nothing really defining about to hold the listener's attention or demand a second listen. The closer, Window, is the best example of just quite how subpar the songwriting is here; the vocals sound disinterested, the keyboard drone adds virtually nothing to the overall sound of the track, the guitar work plods along with the same, overdone handful of chords seen on the rest of the album, and the drums seem like an afterthought, as if the band thought they were obliged to have some to keep the track from grinding to a halt. Brass Ring, whilst not quite on the level of the aforementioned two highlights, isn't too bad, providing vocal range and an interesting melody that diverts away from the dreary tunes that haunt the rest of the tracklisting. Nothing here sticks, none of the melodies capture the imagination, none of the riffs or chord structures have any real dynamism or memorability; to repeat the use of this word, Spin is overwhelmingly dreary, from front to back.
True, none of the songs are bad, none irritating, and the lyrics aren't bad. But when an album is this flaccid, this lacking in originality, direction or drive, that only two songs out of twelve can be seen as above average, it's hard to say that the album is enjoyable. Vocals? Disinterested. Drums? Dull. Guitar Work? Repetitive. Basslines? Well, there aren't really any. Tigers Jaw, in following in the footsteps of their peers and attempting to mature beyond their pop-punk roots have produced possibly the most forgettable and underwhelming album I've heard in a while. There's only one word for this album, and it's this: dreary.
