“Not very far apart, still on different pages.”
The Story so Far burst onto the scene in 2011 with their debut Under Soil and Dirt, and the group hasn’t looked back since. They’ve essentially held onto the “undisputed pop punk kings” title since then (your Blink-182s and other uber popular groups notwithstanding), which would make 2024 the 13th year of their reign. The band is now on the cusp of, despite their veteran status, only their 5th studio album in I Want to Disappear. There is a certain level of “what if” with their careers, since this will be only their second album over a 9 year span, and that lack of consistency can interrupt momentum. However, vocalist Parker Cannon did speak on the fact that their previous effort, Proper Dose (2018) almost did not even happen for various reasons; I’m very happy it did happen, however. I thought Proper Dose was a super strong album with some of the band’s most varied and heartfelt material to date. And their self-titled 2015 release is also one of the most underrated projects in the entire scene. But given the uncertainty around Proper Dose, I wasn’t sure if I Want to Disappear would happen either. But despite it all, we have another The Story So Far album, and it is very much a The Story So Far album.
As I just alluded to, I Want to Disappear is very safe. The risks and genre bending taken are minimal, if present at all, and that will certainly appeal to a lot of people. It still makes for a great listen, but I do feel like there’s something missing. That is amplified by the length of some of these tracks, where 3 of 10 are over 3 minutes, and one of those is 3:01. This is nothing new for the band, as their projects usually hover around 30 minutes total, but some cuts here do feel like an exercise in energy and riffage more than a full-fledged song. For example, “Watch You Go” is a fine effort with a good bounce to the track, and Parker has some quick-witted lyrics, but it’s length does leave something to be desired. “Keep You Around” is the longest track on the album, and unfortunately, I don’t think it does much to justify that. It comes off like a microcosm of the worst parts of the album. The song writing is more than a little generic, and there’s just nothing interesting going on on any front. “You’re Still in My Way” is more of the same. I’ve heard the opening riff in probably over 100 pop punk tracks at this point, and it’s also the main motif of this song. Then there’s “White Shores” which is the token acoustic fusion track, and it’s a far cry from “Take Me as You Please”. It takes a solid minute to get going, and the instrumental largely feels barren. When the bridge tries to create something lusher and more musical, it just doesn’t sound good. The lead that comes in has an awful tone to it and there’s zero melody present.
There are also plenty of great tracks, of course. Take the opener “All This Time” which has a great mix of emotion filled lyrics and crushing pop punk chords. Parker kills the chorus here as he belts about cutting ties in a relationship instead of letting the unhappiness fester. There’s also lead single “Letterman” which has a more measured approach to building atmosphere and doesn’t dive fully into the frenzied pop punk drum style for the entire run time. “Jump the Gun” is also a banger, continuing the trend within the track listing. The chorus does a good job of setting the scene lyrically, while the verses up the complexity and energy a bit. The subtle key changes that I believe I hear also reinforce what makes the song good, as does the fantastic bridge which is full of pop punk angst and climaxes the track well.
Then there’s a couple of middling tracks. I’m not the biggest poker player (read: I’ve only played Balatro) but I can fully appreciate the lyrical and thematic consistency of “Big Blind”. “You put up the hearts, and I’ll put up both my aces” and “I will stack the deck cause I know the dealer” are clever, but I wish the track fully committed, as the verses seems pretty detached on the lyrical front. “Nothing to Say” does nothing for me until the stellar bridge, where the instrumental unravels a bit and becomes lighter and free, and Parker is in a different mode as he delivers the vocals here too. And then the song plays out with some fairly heavy chords, at least in comparison to the rest of the album. It’s just a shame that the front end is white noise.
The Story So Far have very much stuck to their guns on this one, for better or for worse. Part of why I thought Proper Dose was such a strong entry into the band’s discography was due to their willingness to incorporate some indie + alt rock, and change up the production style on the mix for both vocals and the instrumental tracking. There are also tracks like “Mock” on 2015’s self-titled which is just an entirely different vibe than the one note vibe of a lot of I Want to Disappear. The production on the self-titled is also much more raw and dirty, while I Want to Disappear feels too clean. There are still plenty of strong tracks and solid pop punk moments on the record, but I’m not confronted with much vision and inspiration.
6/10
You can pre-order I Want to Disappear here before it releases this Friday, June 21st, via Pure Noise Records.