It’s dumb how much I’ve fallen for the jersey-twosome The Front Bottoms. Their new album, Talon of The Hawk, is very much for me right now what Japandorid’s Celebration Rock was to me last June- an earnest, straightforward jam. Japandorids sounded like a bunch of dudes who just wanted to chill in their backyard, screwing around and playing gnar guitar riffs. But they also sounded like they were constantly playing in front of fireworks in a world where all of your emotions were super emotional and super valid because rock, guys, rock.
The Front Bottoms, however, sound more like the guys I find in the sweaty basement parties here in my small hometown, or like the sweaty guys I find myself playing with in my own basement. In other words, you and I and every kid we know could be The Front Bottoms. Their lyrics have a “my kid could write that!” quality- if you were a middle aged mother and your kid was a stoner. There’s simplicity in a line like ” She says that it’s French ‘I know what it means/ You don’t have to be so mean’ “ which feels so perfect and exactly like the interaction that takes place between a condescending guy and a no-bullshit girl. I feel dumb to label it poetic but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t cried at least 5 times because of its sheer earnestness. The Front Bottoms write candidly about how they feel, but they don’t spare themselves in sharing how they can also be pretty awful guys. There’s the perfect transfer of teen-angst to twenty-something angst in the intonation of“Rock and roll, rock and roll/You probably don’t understand what I mean.” It can’t compete with the grandeur of a song like “Continuous Thunder” but it sure as hell will make you appreciate a good tambourine shake and I’d be damned if I didn’t scream along every time I listened.
Recently, two people- a girl I would’ve called a “friendly acquaintance” and a guy I’d just met the night before- were the kindest sort of people and they drove me to Boston to see a Fall Out Boy concert after my plans fell through horrifically (Mer, you’re so PUNK RAWK.) As we kicked off the drive through the green moutains, Laura put on “Au Revoir” and we listened to it intermittently throughout the drive. I don’t know how to explain the feeling you get when you listen to the perfect summer song in the perfect, Vermont-y place, but if there’s anything I can recommend to you this summer, it is this : get all of your friends into The Front Bottoms, have them all play “Talon of the Hawk” everywhere they go, and drive somewhere beautiful while you listen to it. Let yourself love something this earnest and easy and relate relate relate—to the lyrics, to the stories, to each other and don’t worry if you feel a little dumb doing it.
Check out “Au Revoir” and the rest of Talon of The Hawk over at Noisey.
soooooooooooo into this review?! M.M. who are you, you are a gem. the part about japandroids being like giant manchildren is so incred spot-on I DIE.
yusss i listen to this everyday when i wake up #jersey
we <3 TFB we <3 the blog #friendshipmemories
soooooooooooo into this