#sideone dummy

Written by Joel Funk, Edited by Caitlin Kohn

“Fix my body/I can’t move/I feel helpless to you.” A clean and concise review of the new Superheaven record, ‘Ours Is Chrome.’  

Superheaven is known for their emotionally dense take on punk rock. This band catapulted into scene stardom with the release of their debut album ‘Jar’ in 2013, and we’ve been paying attention ever since. ‘Jar’ saw Superheaven take things in a more focused direction than their previous EPs seemed to narrate. The band had transcended punk rock and blossomed into a grunge powerhouse, showing an entirely new generation of kids just why people fell in love with acts like Nirvana in decades past.

The emotion is heavy in the music and the vocals have a feeling of detachment. When I say detached, I don’t mean disconnected. [Taylor] Madison is very much connected to the music, but his vocals feel out of body. Like how your conscience is connected to your experience, but is detached from reality. This is a trend that doesn’t continue so much as it feels perfected, on ‘Ours Is Chrome.’

“I’ve Been Bored” was our first brilliant taste of this album. The song feels massive and is filled with build until we hear the crooning of “I’ve been so sick of flowers on everything/Someone told me I’m crazy/Keep it in/Thousands under a dim light/It’s hard to see/Guess it’s just me/Oh well.” While lyrics about performing may not be accessible to every listener, it’s Madison’s delivery of these lines that drives them home. You feel what he wants you to feel.

I also love that the first single is called “I’ve Been Bored” because it’s such a great response to the usual “I wonder what Superheaven’s been up too?” question that feels almost inevitable when a band has downtime. That, in itself, is brilliant.

Jeff Rosenstock has debuted the music video for “You In Weird Cities” today via Billboard. You can watch the video here or after the cut. 

Superheaven will release their new album ‘Ours Is Chrome’ on May 4th through Sideone Dummy Records. You can pre-order the record here. You can watch the music video for another new song called “Next To Nothing” here via Noisey or after the cut. 

Timeshares will release their new album ‘Already Dead’ on April 28th through Sideone Dummy Records. You can pre-order the record here. The band has debuted a music video for the song “Spend The Night” via The A.V. Club. You can watch that video here or after the cut.