The Neighbourhood Review
The album starts with the shimmering synchronized synthes of Flowers, and the insecure but still major chord singing of Jesse Rutherford. It's pretty similar to his solo song Barbie and ken, about how he's such a fake, a basic Ken doll, etc. This time it trades Take a Daytrip's slick trap beats for the keyboard and some basic drumming, backing some really cool singing that takes autotune far out of the reaches of well used, overused or annoying and into the completely new and groundbreaking territory of artificially raising your voice to make an almost parody that works pretty well. Scary Love, which has been playing on my local Alternative radio station at least once every three days, is that blasts with the electro pop of To Imagine, this time translated into a bit more of a charismatic, radio centric format. The track certainly does some serious damage, and the layering of this deceptively simple song works very well with Jesse Rutherford's effortless mix of vocal styles. Nervous is about a song with the theme of transformation, and with the style of a guitar based song with the guitar relatively low in the mix the instrumentals reflect that. Nevertheless, it's slow but well done vocal guitar and bass mix drips with cool and insecurity and lends itself to it's original job as a single. Void is a shimmering but definitely grounded song with Jesse Rutherford crooning over weirdly patterned and slightly trippy electronic drums and atmospheric synthes.
Softcore forms a buzzing and pulsing canvas of synthes, with the heavily autotuned voice helping the electronic mood to reach almost epic proportions. The last electronic chords of Softcore lead into the mournful guitar and stop-start vocal/ drum melody of Blue. The mix of watery guitar, similarly mixed bass and drum, and low proto rapping feels like a real throwback to I Love You, but the electronic touches and extra backing synthes place it on this album. Sadderdaze is a very eclectic track full of the acoustic instruments that characterized the Hard EP, peculiar lyrics, a mournful but somehow comforting tone, and mixing that makes it seems like two Jesse Rutherfords are crooning in sync at each of your ears. Revenge continues to build up with its flow that perfectly fits the title, dropping right into the gritty on the block You Get Me So High, which perfectly accomplishes the The Neighbourhood's goal of mixing the instruments and power of rock with the forward movement of Hip Hop. Reflections has a very dark, chrome filled tone, with a mix of guitar, bass and electronic drums that feels very natural with it's masterful songwriting. Too Serious is the obligatory acoustic track for a long album, with extra drums and samples added throughout, and a bit of too much of a downer feel. Stuck With Me is a decent choice to end the album with its vaguely psychedelic vocals and keyboards, and a driving beat that sustains it through its full four and half minutes.
This is definitely a successful album. Like all real albums it has its ups and downs, with Softcore and Revenge being the low points. The best tracks are mainly ones that meld together guitar and bass with a well thought mix of electronic and acoustic drums, such as Nervous, You Get Me So High, and Reflections. Flowers also hints at the sonic exploration they're doing, bringing experimental electronic into the mainstream. It should be interesting to listen to their upcoming Mixtape EP, especially if they try lots of collaborations and rap again. If only their best songs were more popular...
(I liked the album enough to buy it's vinyl, and finally a kickass pair of their shirts.)
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