Joyce Manor

Of All The Things I Will Soon Grow Tired

Written by: PP on 25/05/2012 18:47:24

In just two short years, Joyce Manor have become one of the most talked about bands in the punk rock underground thanks to their Bomb The Music Industry!-esque approach to writing melodic punk rock. Like those guys, Joyce Manor inject a slightly chaotic and unpredictable mood into punk rock, often making it sound like the musicians have been shoved into a tumble-dryer to get the maximum all-over-the-place vibe going on. Though professionally produced, their sophomore album "Of All The Things I Will Soon Grow Tired" has been intentionally left with a slightly unproduced and unpolished vibe, ensuring that the whole soundscape has a rough and sharp vibe to it.

In that sense, it's very much a garage production. It all sounds vibrant, and like there's a whole lot of things going on simultaneously, thanks to the rumbling instruments that have been left alone to uphold the rough edges. The effect is that the whole album sounds generally unorganized, but in a good way. They are still channeling early Alkaline Trio and partly also the shouted-out-loud punk of early The Menzingers, though both bands would need to be taken through a carefully applied garage filter to get to the lo-fi levels that Joyce Manor play around with. The uncontrollable feeling is lovely and is the key reason why Joyce Manor sound so different and fresh in comparison to other bands, and the main source of urgency for the album. Because if there's something that Joyce Manor have, it's urgency. The whole album lasts just thirteen minutes as the band races through nine songs. It's not that the songs are necessarily fast, it's just that they are mostly finished off in just over minute after starting.

That's also the biggest weakness of the record. Where their self-titled debut album did the same things in a longer format, many of the songs here end abruptly and could have benefitted even from the classic 'repeat the entire song at the end of the first run' style of songwriting that other bands have used in the past. Right now, it's just too short-and-sweet.

Download: Comfortable Clothes, Video Killed The Radio Star, If I Needed You There
For the fans of: Alkaline Trio, Bomb The Music Industry!, The Menzingers
Listen: Spotify

Release date 17.04.2012
Asian Man Records

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