Review Summary: Short and sweet
Joyce Manor have long been a prominent voice in the east coast pop punk and indie rock scenes for the past 15 years, and have an established fanbase thanks to their infectious hooks and their songwriting being more thoughtful than the typical pop punk band of yore. This is their 7th album and at 19 minutes is a pretty breezy listen. That length is pretty par for the course of Joyce Manor, every other album clocks in between 15-20 minutes, which has resulted in them being a band some accuse of being a bit lightweight or low effort, their albums feeling like a
vibe or a quick slice of life rather than something more substantial like their lyrics tend to hint towards.
What caught my attention was, first the easy length, and then the recent praise from Bad Religion co-founder and Epitaph head Brett Gurewitz, who also produced this album. In the promotion for this album he said he thought Joyce Manor frontman Barry Johnson is one of the best singer-songwriters of his generation. While I am ambivalent to that opinion, it did make me think Joyce Manor are a good comparison to Bad Religion - both bands use very short, kinda samey tracks, usually 2 mins in length, which are punctuated with catchy guitar hooks, vocal harmonization and thoughtful, considered songwriting. While Bad Religion are obviously more political and sociopolitical in theme, Joyce Manor operate on a smaller scale, are more introspective, and write about themselves, the people they know, the places they exist. And
I Used To Go To This Bar does evoke a sense of place, as I feel like I'm getting a slice of American small town life, partly helped by the Americana and country tinges that come through occasionally (like the harmonica on
'Well Don't It Seem Like You've Been Here Before' and the jangly guitars on
'The Opossum').
The short length fits best for the straight up pop punk bangers like the opener,
'I Know Where Mark Chen Lives', but goes against it on the tracks which try to drive more emotion. Tracks like
'The Opossum' and
'Grey Guitar' are good and bring more emotional themes and guitar playing, but then just end as it feels like they getting into the meat of the song. Both tracks feel like the band simply stopped recording and couldn't be bothered to complete the song with an appropriate final act. Instead of making them gratifying, they are quick feels that we swiftly move on from.
As a result many of the tracks do feel like snippets. The album has some fun vibes and catchy harmonies but is also pretty lightweight. My stomach is still rumbling after listening to this.
But at 19 minutes it at least doesn't take up too much of your time and, if this kind of music is your thing, it absolutely is worth a spin. I'm sure you can find 19 minutes somewhere.
Video review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XXZT9J8ujc
