Review: Proper. - The Great American Novel
 |
| Label: Father/Daughter Records |
Just to get it straight outta way, this is an early AOTY-contender.
So stop readin' and scrollin' and check this album out immediately. Or read this, while listening but definitely stop what you're doing right now.
PROPER. is a band out of of Brooklyn, New York I slept on way too long. This is already their third album following 2017's "The Suburbs have ruined my Life" & 2019's "I spent the Winter writing Songs about getting better". Making it easy, you could put this record into the New Wave of Emo alongside ORIGAMI ANGEL, OSO OSO or STARS HOLLOW. There are some similarities there, no doubt. Digging deeper, "The Great American Novel" is one of the most diverse Emo-records I've heard in a very long time. It's an album full of surprises. A challenging one. An Epic. A truly special record.
The band itself calls it "a concept album that’s meant to read like a book". And: "Every song is a chapter following the protagonist through their 20s". That protagonist pretty much is lead singer Erik Garlington. A fascinating character on its own. A guy with many different facets, and an excellent storyteller who got through some shit in the last couple of years. He's definitely a fascinating human being, as passionately introvert as he seems to be extrovert, as self critical as self confident, as predictable as unpredictable. Yeah, he's black and he's gay, but there's much more to his lyrics.
Musically "The Great American Novel" is a tour de force for anyone into similar stuff. It's that kind of album you can't pin down. That kind of album that grows with every run. That kind of album that calls to mind a thousand references but sounds totally original in its entirety. Bands like CURSIVE, BRAND NEW, MEWITHOUTYOU, SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE or LA DISPUTE. In terms of cohesiveness, atmosphere, intensity and drama "The Great American Novel" feels akin to "The Devil and God are raging inside me", or more so "Domestica" and "A to B Life". Just like those two records, "The Great American Novel" is epic but always remains its small, cranky, quirky nature...
The intro "You good?" sets the tone for the whole album, but is also kind of misleading. Erik uses those whiny vocals near the end of the track only once. After the calming, melancholic beginning of the intro it's a cool stylistic element to portrait the other, more ferocious and dramatic site of the album. "Shuck & Jive" is a straight up hit, with Erik moaning about some record labels and their philosophy of owning their bands' art. The music lands somewhere in the middle of Post-Hardcore, Indie, and Pop-Punk. Next is "Red, White, & Blue", the most catchy tune on "The Great American Novel" and also something like the hidden title track. It's about the bands' love-hate-relationship (more hate, whatsoever) with the United States of America. It's a perfect 3-minute-banger and a song that is able to destroy a whole album. But it's not able to destroy "The Great American Novel". At first, some tracks may pale in comparison to "Red, White, & Blue"'s catchiness, but just give those songs and the whole album some time to grow on you.
"Jean" holds up, with a melodramatic feeling to it, while the pace is still high. The story of the track is just amazing, but just find out yourself. "McConnell" then is a key track of the album. It's the biggest "what the fuck"-moment on the record, as PROPER. re-think their style, blasting out a Prog-Rock-hymn like it's nothing special. The first third of "The Great American Novel" is breathtaking and nothing you can top. And PROPER. won't, clearly speaking the second third of the record is the weakest. Still, there are great tracks like "In the Van somewhere outside of Birmingham" and "Juvie" or the beautiful "Huerta", who make the middle part of the album more than worthwhile.
The one thing I love about the journey with this record is the fact, that PROPER. manage to go one step further in the ending stretch. "Milk and Honey" is one of the deepest, most meaningful songs I've heard in a long time, and its tonal interpretation is magnificient, especially the doubled vocals and the horns near the end. "Done Talking" is another favourite of mine. Once again it's a track you wouldn't have expected from these guys. It's a mean, aggressive, and dark bastard with some Prog-tendencies, but at the core PROPER. just fuck shit up with this one. "Americana" is the third perfect song in a row. It's way more introspective, but once again gets to where it really hurts, with lines like these: "If there’s anything this year taught me / My life is worth less than a haircut and a coffee / Only protest if you’re white and miss conveniency /But don’t you dare sit this out or take a knee".
To quote the closer of the record: "I know I should wrap this up in some inspiring way / But I’m sorry, I’m just too tired today". So, just scroll back up to the second paragraph of this junt...
Comments
Post a Comment