Review Summary: “Error: ‘Consistency.exe’ could not be located.”
Origami Angel’s secret ingredient has never been their genre shifting, instrumental proficiency, or their wacky chord structures. At the risk of sounding elementary, the D.C. duo are just so damn
fun to listen to, and even their darkest lyrical narratives sound as though they’re being delivered by two friends who are having the absolute time of their lives. There are countless lesser groups trying in vain to ape what makes Ryland Heagy and Pat Doherty’s formula so successful, and none of them can seem to replicate the special sauce that made
Somewhere City and
Gami Gang so sugary and compelling. It’s a shame that the formula’s progenitors themselves have lost the plot so suddenly on
Feeling Not Found, a merely adequate record made all the more frustrating by the glimpses of greatness it briefly flashes before its listeners.
This is not to say that Heagy’s venture into rawer lyrical territory is a misstep, as his touching tributes to his deceased cousin and unflinching recounting of his journey through grief are likely the strongest aspect of the entire record. Fans who have clamored for a less tongue-in-cheek or more “mature” side of the band are sure to laud this change in direction, and despite my misgivings, it’s a strong indicator that the boys may have it in them yet to transform their sound and image. Unfortunately, if the lyrics have climbed up a hill of improvement, then the instrumentals have slid down a mountain for a concerningly long period of time a la Andy Samberg in
Hot Rod. 2022’s
re:turn and
DEPART EPs showcased the group’s awareness of their vast pool of musical influences, with the latter displaying a willingness to fully commit to a heavier sound that none of their other projects have yet to match. Perhaps this is what makes the metalcore sections on
Feeling Not Found so disappointing, as they continue to feel shoehorned in and half-baked as opposed to organic and ferocious. True opener “Dirty Mirror Selfie” introduces itself with a somewhat punishing riff, only to get exhausted about 20 seconds in and revert back to an emo verse that is surprisingly pedestrian by Origami Angel’s standards. When the duo deems it time to break it down again, they can’t quite recapture the magic of the intro, and end up accidentally recreating a Thin Lizzy riff in the process. If that’s not enticing enough, observe the way “Living Proof” takes a puzzling left turn from an admittedly lackluster emo tune to a horrific and ill-advised breakdown that is much too easily compared to Stewie Griffin following fat people around with a tuba. An equally jarring transition back into the song’s original structure is not the first sign that something is seriously amiss with
Feeling Not Found’s songwriting, but it’s certainly one of the most egregious.
In the rising action leading up to the climactic cringe that is the “Living Proof” breakdown, listeners will likely find some genuinely wonderful segments to latch onto, like the hypnotic acoustic verses of “Where Blue Light Blooms”, the dark and gloomy bridge of “Viral”, or the exhilarating entirety of front-half standout “Wretched Trajectory”. However, with the exception of that last cut, they’ll also find themselves harried by moments that either miss the mark entirely or feel more hollow than they should. By all accounts, a track like “Underneath My Skin” should be vintage Origami Angel, with its slide-up strut of a riff and Heagy’s tremendous vocal performance carrying it into the upper echelon of their catalog. Despite this, the song would quite easily be the worst of the bunch on
Gami Gang, due in part to factors such as Doherty’s drumming being uncharacteristically restrained, a disappointing bridge that feels like a retread of “Bossa Nova Corps”, and a hook that juuuuust misses out on sticking the landing. Clear highlight “Wretched Trajectory” once again notwithstanding, “Underneath My Skin” also lands directly in the middle of a run of tracks that are frustratingly similar in tempo and dynamic range, a trend that continues up until the last two songs, whose standout status can be chalked up to how well they actually
stand out from the rest of the tracklist by actually sounding different. “Higher Road” succeeds by slowing things down and drowning the listener in heavy distortion and raw emotion, while the title track closes the album in spectacular fashion by combining old and new influences into a melodic atom bomb of an experience. This final stretch is one of the only sequences on the record where Heagy and Doherty see fit to truly let loose instrumentally, with the title track’s solo constituting one of the only incidences of Heagy’s guitar virtuosity. To the surprise of none, this is easily one of the most exciting decisions the band makes throughout the album’s 40 minute run time, and one can only look back and wonder how much better passable songs like “AP Revisionist History” or “Fruit Wine” would have been had they been mathier, more frenetic, or added literally any other ingredient to their songwriting recipe.
While “Living Proof” may have threatened to ruin my Friday morning, none of the other songs on
Feeling Not Found are
bad, but many of them could have been so much better, which can make a full run-through of Origami Angel’s third album a mystifying experience. At the end of the day, I don’t think the record’s bumps and warts can be attributed to life circumstances, the decision to work with Will Yip, or even a lack of creativity. If anything, the inconsistent nature of
Feeling Not Found represents a group doubling down on what has worked for them while losing sight of why it was working in the first place. Its moments of unrestrained expression are breathtaking, while every incomplete moment in between will have you wondering what could have been.
