“Just one more flight, my friend, and you’re gonna be home.”
Throughout Trophy Eyes’ decade-long career, the Australian punk band has seen numerous changes, from member departures to sonic shifts. In many ways, a restless energy has come to define their identity as a group. Yet the one constant that has held steady through it all has been their dedication to emotional catharsis. Through the lens of frontman John Floreani’s impassioned, vulnerable songwriting, Trophy Eyes have provided a relatable window into the struggles of everyday life – and the hope of eventually making it through to the other side.
This certainly holds true on the band’s long-gestating fourth album Suicide and Sunshine. Described by Floreani as a series of narratives capturing the triumphs and tragedies of the everyday human experience, each track focuses in on a different stage of the frontman’s life.
From the very beginning of its runtime, Suicide and Sunshine plays off of dramatic contrasts between light and dark. Short intro track “Sydney” opens with a gentle synth that would lead many listeners to briefly think Trophy Eyes was directly following up the more pop-driven direction of their previous album, 2018’s The American Dream – that is, until Floreani comes roaring into the track with a visceral hardcore yell much more reminiscent of the band’s early work.
This jarring introduction is a fitting welcome to an album that pushes into the extremes of the band’s sonic landscape, containing both some of the heaviest and some of the most accessibly hooky moments they have ever recorded – sometimes even co-existing on the same track. The long, difficult development process of this album seems to have been strangely liberating for Trophy Eyes, as any remaining creative constraints they may have had fall to the wayside, and their genre-fluid approach to songwriting hits a new peak of experimentation.
“People Like You” veers wildly between explosive hardcore shout-along verses and a truly addictive chorus. “Life is easy when you’re beautiful”, Floreani sings with irony and venom dripping from each syllable. This explosion of energy is immediately followed by the contemplative, melodic “My Inheritance”, which sees the frontman pondering the impacts of his selfish choices on those he loves. In the hands of lesser artists, these jarring tonal contrasts might make for an uneven listening experience. Floreani and his bandmates tie together every sonic twist and turn in a way that feels completely earned by the emotional peaks and valleys of the lyricism.
Another highlight is “Blue Eyed Boy”, a deeply personal account of trying to rescue a friend from drug addiction. Given Floreani’s own well-documented struggles with addiction, part of the song’s power comes from the uncertainty of its perspective… is Floreani the one trying to get help for a close friend, or is he writing from the perspective of a friend trying to help him? The lyrics are powerful enough in their detailed vulnerability that anyone who’s ever experienced trying to help a loved one through this struggle can relate immediately. A particularly cutting section comes when Floreani’s narrator tells his friend how addiction has robbed him of years of memories with those close to him: “We have no new memories/Reminiscing endlessly about when you and I were teens/Does that not tell you anything?/Oh, how the needle stings”.
The album’s centerpiece, which also contains the lyric from which the album is named, is the track “Sean”. A disarmingly raw story of the day Floreani found out his close friend had ended his life, it feels almost stream-of-consciousness in a way that is uncomfortable at times to listen to… like the listener is intruding on private thoughts they shouldn’t be eavesdropping on.
Yet Floreani’s ability to articulate his innermost regrets and passions so openly has been the very thing that has set apart Trophy Eyes from their contemporaries since the early days of their career. This band has a true gift for turning very specific moments of tragedy and heartache into universal anthems, and for uniting strangers across continents around shared experiences. Like their album’s title, Trophy Eyes’ music finds the beauty in suffering, and in processing their grief, they and their listeners find reasons to live again.
8/10
Suicide and Sunshine is available on June 23rd via Hopeless Records.