Bad Palate

This is my favorite fucking album, EVER.

               Clocking at just 13 minutes and 11 seconds, Joyce Manor’s sophomore album, released by Asian Man Records, is a departure from the straightforward pop-punk sound from their debut, which was released just a little over a year prior.

Mostly gone are the fast, aggressive, and angry punk songs Joyce Manor had a reputation for writing. In their place are longing lovesick mid-tempo pop songs, two lo fi acoustic songs, and a pop punk cover of “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. The reason why I love this album so much stems partly from how alienating it can be, especially if your introduction to this band was their debut. From the abrasive devolution to a wall of distorted white noise in “These Kind of Ice Skates”, to the abrupt acoustic interlude of “Drainage”, it’s clear that Joyce Manor really didn’t give a shit about conventional methods of how an album should be constructed. They also didn’t care much for people’s expectations to make something similar to their self-titled album. I think Barry Johnson has gone on the record to say that the record was partly made reactionary to some publications lumping them in with bands like The Wonders Years, but at this moment I can’t remember where I got that from…so don’t quote me on that.

The conscious decision to make something so totally different, directly after receiving so much acclaim was risky but it resulted in something magical. For Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired, Joyce Manor were less Alkaline Trio and Weezer and more like Morrissey in a so-cal indie/punk rock band. All of the songs stand independently as a unique idea in relation to the others. No idea is repeated or overstayed as the average duration for the songs here are about 1 minute and 30 seconds. On “See How Tame I Can Be”, Barry Johnson belts out Morrissey-esque drawls over a jumpy syncopated bassline.  The album explodes from the quiet lament that is “Drainage” to the hyperactivity that is their “Video Killed the Radio Star” cover. The latter is actually the first song I can remember listening to and falling in love with. It’s so drastically different from the original version. No cheesy 80’s synth keys, just fast unrelenting drums, bass and guitar. (Side Note: I’m watching the music video from The Buggles as I write this and despondent from the fact that I’ll never be as cool as the guy in a shiny silver suit, detached, staring off into the distance with sunglasses while his backup singers awkwardly dance behind him. Damn). The Smiths worship gets blatant with one of my favorite songs, “Bride of Usher”. I love everything about this song; the lyrics, the jangly rhythm guitar, the leads, how it makes me feel like I haven’t moved in a long time cause of the line “I don’t remember being anywhere but here”, everything.

I love this album because of its lyrics too. They’re not special in being super well written or anything but because I relate to them so well. They add a personal weight to songs I already enjoy for how they sound. THAT’S THE WINNING COMBINATION WHEN IT COMES TO MUSIC. SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS GOOD AND MAKES YOU FEEL ABOUT A CERTAIN PLACE AND TIME AND ABOUT CERTAIN PEOPLE. In contrast to their first album where Barry Johnson is lets out pent up anger at people by burning their houses down, jamming pens into someone’s eye, or explosively sending off a train full of people into buildings, he laments of loneliness and longing.  Not to say that I don’t like the violent lyrics from the self-titled, I just also really like the ones from this album. My favorite line comes from “Tame”, and it goes “Fall into my arms because I want you/ Can’t you tell?”. Also I love “Violent Inside” lyrically because of how it encapsulates a feeling of being so angry internally and having an inability to behave acceptably. As a matter of fact, ITS MY FAVORITE SONG EVER. I can tell you outright that nothing in my life has ever felt as cathartic as yelling out “I will feel violent because I feel violent all the time inside of me” during a live Joyce Manor set while crowd surfing. Shits fun.