The Story So Far are set to release their upcoming 5th studio album, "I Want to Disappear", on June 21st 2024 via Pure Noise Records.
On a personal level, The Story So Far had a tremendous musical impact on me when their self-titled record found me; it was like this evolutionary genre of emo / pop punk was waiting to hit me in strides and different ways and suddenly I had re-discovered an entire portion of music that I didn’t actually knew could exist, even if on a significant basis it was there and was being built for years. By blending elements of punk rock and pop with hardcore while being absolutely catchy, melodic and groovy, The Story So Far where definitely among the very select few, which didn’t just have an impact on people like myself but grew much farther out of their own “scene” and ended up making a huge name for themselves in the greater rock universe.
Every record of theirs, from 2011’s “Under Soil and Dirt” to “What You Don’t See” in 2013 and their s/t record in 2015, had shifts in new directions and brought bigger and more mature pieces to the table, both from a lyrical, a musical and a production standpoint, propelling the band from something fresh and promising to the biggest stages of the world, cementing their growth and popularity with 2018’s “Proper Dose” - all releases on the now seminal label Pure Noise Records. In a mere 12 years, the band went from covering Blink 182 songs in small warehouses and garage driveway - shows to opening for the actual band in stadiums around Europe.
Since the release of that last record in 2018, which also saw their most pivotal change in sound and overall aesthetic, the band had stayed mostly inactive in producing new material itself - while band members delved into new projects (No Pressure - Same Side) - and generally took its time to finally announce new music and a full record set to release on June 21st 2024, titled (ironically?) “I Want to Disappear”. The band had released one new song, “Big Blind” almost a year ago, coinciding with their Blink 182 European tour and in support of it and then properly announced the record and it’s timeline with the release of their first proper single “Letterman”, followed by the opening track and second single “All This Time” a few weeks later. Having now had the pleasure of listening to the entire LP, it is clear that TSSF have once again waivered in a bit of a new direction, this time by working with a new producer (Jon Markson - Drug Church, KOYO) for the first time since all previous full record material (Sam Pura), this marking a significant shift in sound with mellower / even more distortion-less guitars, overstating but not huge drum production and not a ton of bass.
In a strange way, the new record, however, is as close to “Proper Dose” as it also is to “Under Soil and Dirt” (also released on June 21st !). I will actually go to the lengths and say that, if you’re a fan and you’ve listened to the singles, the record as a whole sounds more like the aforementioned opener and less like “Letterman”; “All This Time”, “Watch You Go”, “Jump the Gun” and especially “You’re Still in my Way” and “Nothing To Say”, even “Big Blind” to an extent, are fast paced, classic TSSF songs. There are however, two semi to full acoustic songs at the end of the “I Want to Disappear”, namely “White Shores” and the title track, which bring out the progression and lighter atmospheric side of the band to the forefront. Also, it is safe to say that “Letterman” is my favourite song on the record, along with “You’re Still in my Way”, “Jump the Gun” and “Keep You Around”, no song, however, (except maybe “You’re Still in my Way”) is a clear cut BANGER and that bothers me, a tiny little bit. The cover art is absolutely beautiful and from a lyrical standpoint, the band via vocalist Parker Cannon, this time are heavily - if not exclusively - influenced by the passing of his father, and from a very personal standpoint a lot of these new songs are a very painful slap on my face but in a very good way, making “I Want to Disappear”, again, a very special and differentially resonating release, which I look forward to grow on me, more and more with each definitely everlasting listen.
8.5/10
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