“Breaking habits felt just like a breakup from someone I don’t wanna know.”
Off Road Minivan is the rock-based side project of Fit For A King bassist-vocalist Ryan ‘Tuck”O’Leary. Drawing influences from various genres such as alternative rock, post-hardcore, shoegaze, any many more, the Hudson Valley quartet have an affinity with emotionally impactful music. Having already released an EP and a full length, the group gear towards their sophomore album, May This Keep You Safe From Harm.
The nostalgic, melancholic themes that the band is known for make their return to this album, with its themes stemming from various memories, both positive and negative. The album title is based off a gift Tuck’s grandmother gave his grandfather as he went out to war: a bible with a metal cover bearing the album title. The album is about preserving moments like these, putting forward a raw, more vulnerable side to the band member’s stories. Recordings of Tuck’s family punctuate the record at many moments, contributing to the theme of keeping memories and furthering the sentimental feeling of this record.
With album opener “Basement”, the focus on emotional is made known from the start, with an underlying piano melody leading the throwback, 2000s rock sounding track. Lyrically, it discusses the loss of a friend of drummer Evan Garcia Renart. This isn’t the only time grief is the subject matter of a track, with “Cheerleader” paying tribute to a friend of Tuck. Making use of distortion-heavy, shoegaze guitars, the band create a wall of sound, purposefully adding to the bittersweet nature of the tracks.
The album has its more aggressive moments sonically, with tracks “Pity Sex” and “Victim Complex” touching on topics of betrayal and strained relationships. Taking cues from post-hardcore styles, the heavier instrumentals match the frustration of the lyrical content while still keeping it balanced. The former desperately cries out in the bridge: ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t, every day on earth is the hell I chose. But I never put the blame on me.’ Though not sonically abrasive, the raw weariness of dealing with a toxic friend can be felt.
A personal highlight comes with “Karma”, an acoustic ballad which harshly contrasts the lyrics about confronting a stubborn individual, with the line ‘I can’t change your ways, but I hope I never see your face again’ driving home the message of the track. The album has many softer, introspective moments like these, giving the record variety in its intensities and sounds.
“The Beacon” and “Out Alive” are perhaps the best of the melancholic side of the album, with impressive guitar work giving these tracks additional nuance. It is at this point where I also want to give credit to the vocals of Tuck. A recognisable voice to Fit For A King fans (such as myself), his smooth and steady vocals really have space to shine with this style. His knack for catchy vocal melodies and his subtler approach to many of the tracks makes the album easy to grasp while still being enjoyable.
The album closer, “It’s Nothing Personal”, takes the slow build approach to send the record off. Exploding into a atmospheric guitar section, the song hits all the right notes of poignant sentiment. At its respectable 45-minute runtime, the album hardly drags at any point.
At its core, May This Keep You Safe From Harm is a heartfelt and genuine piece of music, one that can be easily relatable and enjoyable. Undoubtedly, it does not venture far from the confines of its base genres, instead choosing to focus on creating an accurate atmosphere for the content of each track. The way it utilises some of the rock genre’s tropes, such as repetition of lyrics, do not feel cliché and instead feel purposeful. Off Road Minivan have realised their vision for this record, and it is one for enjoyers of heavier music, both emotionally and sonically.
8/10
May This Keep You Safe From Harm releases June 23rd via Tooth & Nail Records. Find the pre-order links here.