Labels: Damnably
Review by: MH
I’d only heard a couple of Say Sue Me songs on hearing this album for the first time. One being the spritely indie pop single from last year called “Good For Some Reason”, and the other being “Old Town” which features here. Both those songs are in contrast to the gentle and melancholy dream pop of the beautiful, hazy opener on here – the aptly titled “Let It Begin”. “But I Like You” feels more familiar as it’s a little more upbeat and catchy, as is the aforementioned “Old Town” which follows it. They switch between these infectious pop songs and slower, gentle and dreamy indie pop tracks but things get surfy here and there too like on the opening to “I Just Wanna Dance” and on the instrumental “About The Courage To Become Somebody’s Past” towards the end. I guess these genres aren’t a million miles from each other but they flit in and out of them seamlessly all the same. One of the overriding feelings here is melancholy too – much of that sadness behind some of the lyrics and songs stems from the drummer having suffered a trauma from a fall and being currently in recovery – some of these songs were written with the drummer, and others with him in mind. Even the album title is related to him. A lovely, warm and charming record is closed out with the melancholy and lingering “Coming To The End” (another aptly-named song!) which drifts along before it’s noisier ending when the guitar sound is cranked up again.