Better Noise Records
Out Now
Speaking to bands about their new album can be a treacherous, double-edged sword. On the one hand, you get to hear their thoughts on certain songs and events surrounding specific moments of the album, but on the other you get to hear their thoughts on certain songs and events surrounding specific moments of the album.
If that sounds confusing, allow me to simplify it. Before talking to the band, you would listen to a new body of work with an open mind – a clean slate if you will – so your thoughts and opinions are purely your own. Once you have heard the band talk about an album, their thoughts and opinions blur with your own and muddies the line between listening with or without expectations.
So it is I sit down to listen to Better Days, the new offering from Yellowcard, and their first full album release in almost a decade. The title track opens proceedings with a rumble of drums before a chunky guitar riff pauses briefly to allow vocalist Ryan Key to stamp his immediate authority on things. Actually, stamp his authority might be a bit misleading in this instance, because there is nothing forced or intrusive about the opening shots fired by Yellowcard in their welcome return.
Instead, they ease into things with Better Days, a cruisey, safe, almost by-the-numbers rock track that is accentuated by the soft strains of strings delicately placed between subtle drum rolls that fall short of being breakdowns but certainly alter the song’s trajectory before a rapid tempo finale suddenly leaves you feeling that you want more.
The lads are telling me to Take What You Want on the next track, so I do just that and have a healthy swig of my trusty can of Mother and plunge in. This track revolves around a shuffling drum pattern, allowing the man behind the kit to display his chops without going into beast mode. Swirls of electronics fill in the empty spaces with strings again prominent in select passages, and already this album sounds like Yellowcard have attempted to bring the best of their musical personas pre-breakup to the table and combined them with a modern edge and greater accessibility to broaden their already expansive horizons.
And so far it works.
I have read enough love letters in my time to know the next track is likely going to be one that reads differently to mine, as Love Letters Lost pops up next. To my surprise, it opens with a wall of instruments, frenetic drumming once again leading the charge. Things do slow down after the initial intensity, but not as much as a song with ‘Love‘ in the title should. Which is a good thing. A cool guitar lick from Ryan Mendez keeps the pace upbeat, with the appearance of Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio providing a slightly different sonic outlook that keeps Love Letters Lost from regressing into familiar territory.
Honestly I is next, which sounds like an unfinished statement to me. A rapid swirl of 80s inspired electronics transports you momentarily back to the days of movies like The Breakfast Club, but this track bounces between that era and the pop punk sensibility perfected by Blink 182 and that’s when I remember one of the topics of conversation with Keys was having Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker not only produce Better Days, but also play drums on each track.
It is actually a testament to Barker‘s solid output that it has taken until the fourth song for me to remember that vital point, and right on cue, a quick drum roll from Barker hastens Honestly I to a conclusion, snapping to a close where other bands may have elected to continue, most likely to the detriment of the song.
Avril Lavigne is listed as a guest on You Broke Me Too, and instead of a Sk8ter Boi snarl, I am met with some delicate violin and acoustic shuffle with Keys acting as the initial crooner. It’s only a small thing, but the fact that Yellowcard have avoided the temptation to use Lavigne straight off the bat proves to me that she has been brought in for the betterment of the song rather than just having another drawcard on the album.
When she does join in, her voice is unmistakable and a welcome accompaniment to Keys, but it’s when the two voices come together that You Broke Me Too becomes something special. It’s only for one verse – again, not overdoing a good thing – but the effect is powerful enough that this is currently my standout pick of the album.
City Of Angels opens with another tempered 80s pop/synth vibe, which continues on loop as Keys showcases the quality of his voice without instrumentalisation. He carries the first part of City Of Angels squarely on his own shoulders, and I am expecting a sudden band intrusion at any moment, which… comes in differently than how I had envisaged.
Normally if a song starts like this, the band feels the need to come in with a much harder edge, maybe to prove they should have been there in the first place, but the rhythm section of Yellowcard instead eases into their role in the song, allowing Keys to continue steering the ship. One feels Barker may have had something to do with this in his role as producer, and if that’s the case, then he has read the room well.
Bedroom Posters is up next, but I can’t tell you about every song because then you would never go and listen to the album yourself. All I will say is that it’s a banger and is out as one of the album singles, so how about you go and review it and let ME know what YOU think?
Skin Scraped arrives courtesy of a tasty guitar lick that again welcomes Barker to the fold before the two go off on their own little tangent that is only interrupted when Keys decides to layer the sound with vocals. This is another up-tempo pop/punk-infused number that is given emotional depth by the rise and fall of each verse/chorus.
You could imagine this track being in any number of movies from the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off era, with sudden outbursts of energy sounding like they are being delivered through a megaphone. As Keys repeats the line “everything is different now” and alludes to “all the shit we’ve been through” my mind reverts back to our conversation about Yellowcard‘s welcome return and previous problems, and you get the strong feeling this song is about purging the past and embracing the future, which is exactly what Yellowcard have done so far on Better Days.
But there’s still two songs to go, so anything could happen…
Barely Alive drifts into sound with a smooth guitar pattern sitting gently beneath Keys‘ mournful tones that suggest he still has more demons to cast out. Yellowcard have by now perfected the art of writing songs that drag you through the quagmire of life without bludgeoning you with the hostility that inevitably comes with it. Instead, they suggest that while trouble is only ever one stroke of the keyboard away, life isn’t necessarily all that bad. You might get out alive.
And if Yellowcard truly believe that, then why shouldn’t we?
As Big Blue Eyes opens to reveal the last song, I find myself wondering if this is a tribute to Mr Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. Then I find myself wondering how the hell do I even know that, so I decide to hit play in order to restore some form of relevance to this discussion.
An acoustic strum of guitar greets me cheerily, and thoughts of Frank Sinatra are quickly replaced by visions of Green Day, who this song reminds me instantly of. But only momentarily, as Keys turns Big Blue Eyes into a tale of his own volition, quietly strumming away to create a sonic ambience that is strangely comforting. This is soon joined by more violin, which adds a more sombre tone to proceedings that isn’t an unwelcome intrusion.
Big Blue Eyes is actually a fitting finale to an album that embraces change with a firm eye on the future, and that, my friends, can only be a positive sign for Yellowcard fans.
