Review Summary: finding reason
Are The Story So Far a pop punk anomaly, or are they simply setting a new precedent? It's easy to marvel at the band’s ability to, eh, not be terrible after having released a handful of albums (unlike, say, the Sums and Decent Charlottes of the world), but at the same time they probably shouldn't be compared to the Sums and Decent Charlottes of the world. The Story So Far shouldn't really be classified as a pop punk band: love it or hate it, they are one of
the early-2010s pop punk bands. Embodying a punchier side of the coin shared with The Wonder Years, these two outfits are proving that there might just be a bright future for this particular flavour of the most adored genre.
That's not to say that The Story So Far are a jolly bunch of dudes constantly pumping out bright anthems about partying and drinking and stuff. Instead, we rarely hear from them anymore: the last check-in was 2018's incredible
Proper Dose. Not as much a reinvention as it was a course correction, the album showed more depth and, crucially, a new side to the band's songwriting. After attempting to write a third straight record about not liking
girl didn't go as well as the first two times, The Story So Far seemingly realised they needed a better reason to write music -
Proper Dose found this in vocalist Parker Cannon's struggles with substance abuse. On top of this, the more expansive soundscape combined with the band's trademark catchiness made for a highly memorable and surprisingly touching outing. It's the kind of album that would be hard to follow: not just because it came awfully close to being a perfectly sequenced pop punk record, but primarily because it feels like there was little left to say.
As such, it makes sense that
I Want To Disappear took quite a bit of time. Admittedly, the fact that a new The Story So Far project now comes with the realisation that
Parker must be going through some *** again is a bit unfortunate: in this instance, the album largely serves as a tribute to the vocalist’s late father. Its ten tracks deal with grief in one way or another without transforming the album into an overly gloomy
dead-dad listening experience. Where
Proper Dose was rather straightforward and explicit - “
if you keep this up / you'll die here all alone” -
I Want To Disappear feels slightly more careful and more universal in expressing itself. Sure, its themes can easily be summarised as “loss” and “grief”, but each line appears to blur the concrete and metaphorical: ashes are scattered, lives are lived because of others, lives are shattered. In essence, each lyric finds ambiguity in simplicity, conveying its emotions in a highly effective if condensed manner.
This condensed nature extends to the actual soundscape of
I Want To Disappear. It's a short album, and ultimately a lot less expansive than its predecessor. While this does mean that it is a slight regression from
Proper Dose’s lushness, it's also a sheer delight to hear a batch of punky, high quality songs. Moreover, it’s almost a relief that this album does not attempt to recapture any specific flavour of previously achieved magic, and instead focuses on doing everything The Story So Far does with a slightly more refined and mature focus. There are moments of pure punk filtered through Cannon's bleak lyricism and complemented by more grandiose, drawn out choruses (“Watch You Go”, “Big Blind”), while other, similarly punchy cuts see fit to include dissociative outros or the most
USAD-riff since, well,
USAD (“Nothing To Say” and “You're Still in My Way” respectively).
...and yet,
I Want To Disappear is at its very best during its more expansive, fleshed out moments. “Letterman” feels like everything most alt rock bands could never achieve, while “Keep You Around” and “White Shores” show that The Story So Far know how to marry their delicate sensibilities with anthemic pop punk-isms unlike anyone else. It's a bit of a double edged and vaguely blunt knife: on the one hand, it's easy to understand why
I Want To Disappear doesn't try to be more than it is - and it is an excellent record. On the other hand, it feels like
I Want To Disappear could have tried - and succeeded - to be more, as exemplified by its very best moments.
At the end of the day, I'm just glad to not just have a new The Story So Far album, but also have a good new pop punk album - one that impressively adopts the acoustic-closer trope without ending up overly saccharine.
I Want To Disappear is an excellent display of Cannon's growth as a writer, and even if it isn't the band's best album, some of its cuts manage to stand shoulder to shoulder with discography highlights like “Empty Space” and “Keep This Up”. Here's to hoping the next one will be a little more uplifting - whenever that may be.
