Album Review - Neutral Snap - Tell Me How I Feel

This question is rhetorical here, but it's one I've been asking myself; is maturing into more serious people always a good thing? Now let me explain why my thoughts have been going down this road. When pop-punk burst onto the scene, its origin is either Green Day or Blink-182. In either case, that early wave of singles that broke through the public consciousness were sarcastic, if not overtly comical. They were the songs of people being smart-asses, taking the piss out of the waning influence of the grunge years. But a couple of decades later, I've been running into more music of that style that has transitioned into adulthood, tackling subjects of mental health especially. That culminated on Yours Truly's "Self Care", which was the best album of last year.

But now, with Neutral Snap taking up some of the same themes, I'm wondering if we need more levity in our music again. We've been working our way through the heady issues of this unprecedented time for so long, perhaps thinking is now as unhealthy as anything else.

The opening track to this record is pining "for a place where I belong", culminating in the frustration when outsiders try to explain your own feelings to you, as if your own experience is less valuable than the opinions of ignorant nobodies. You could also read those lyrics as being a call for that input, being so worn down the truth is blurred and out-of-focus. In either event, the discounting of experience is a philosophical quandary, putting us on track with a line of thought giving far too much power to forces that don't control our lives.

A familiar sound pops up on "I'm Crazy (But You) Like That", which feels like a "From Under The Cork Tree" era Fall Out Boy song, complete with a breakdown riff, incidental harsh vocals, and a title with some wordplay in it. While "Go Ahead" opens the record with energy, this song is where the band's charms begin to bloom. They have the same knack for writing a hook Fall Out Boy used to, and they bring us back to a simpler time in emo/pop-punk history.

That history pops up in "Checked Out", when the song drops into a spoken word section ranting about whether a hot dog is a sandwich. That moment goes a long way to answer my question from earlier, as it becomes clear levity is only a fun diversion when it's actually fun. There isn't a joke to the aside, so while it does tie into the frustration of life in the here and now exploding over the little things, it's the sort of moment that isn't going to age particularly well on repeated listening.

The majority of the record, though, is filled with songs that use the unpolished production to their advantage. There's an authenticity that comes through the speakers that not only buoys the strong hooks, but also adds the right amount of grit and struggle to the frustrations voiced in the songs, whether they're about quarantine or being stuck in the friend zone. The album works best when it feels like an honest conversation, and that's where most of these songs end up.

Neutral Snap tries to balance serious music about processing their issues, with moments of levity that show they haven't lost their sense of humor yet. Pop-punk tried to grow up a long time ago, but it's only now that the emo it has absorbed has truly been paying dividends. Depressive times are when the blend becomes a fuel we need to power through another day. If you thought Spanish Love Songs made a great album last year, but it was too strung-out on its own misery, Neutral Snap might be just what you're looking for.