Album Review: The Snuts - 'Millennials'
As a band who have made the biggest and deepest waves in the indie rock scene for almost 10 years, Scotland’s The Snuts have only just reached their third ever full-length record. Preparing to keep their ascension going and reaching beyond the sky and stars, they present the new release Millennials.
Following on from 2022’s Burn the Empire, the group are back with a new album and still refreshing sound to rock the charts. Opening the record is ‘Gloria’, one of the tracks released in the run-up to the record, and it’s a simple sweet story of wanting to live that everyday love story. Something that is not painted as a Shakespearean story, or a scene painted on a Renaissance canvas; “a mundane fairy tale”, vocalist Jack Cochrane sings, in what is a breath of casual air as compared to the over-the-top lyrics that are usually found in one’s usual love song playlist. It’s about being so in love that it’s just a part of everyday life, nothing that stands out but nothing that’s just being glossed over like another everyday struggle of the world. It’s a relatable indie ballad of sorts - in that style that The Snuts excel in - and it’s one that echoes around the world from road to road, city to city, culture to culture.
In a switch of outlooks, ‘NPC’ is a bleaker outlook on how modern living can negative effect someone’s mindset. With a chorus all about wanting to rest and stay away from it all, it can be taken in a literal and metaphorical sense: television binges and social media can limit one’s sleep and cause health problems; and technology makes one so mentally distressed that the only joy and salvation they find is under the covers with no one else, no other voices, no other presences. Whether it’s a lack of sleep or serotonin, it’s a real view of how technology can take away the necessity of rest and relaxation. Without it, it’s tough to keep going as the days roll on and that’s something most millennials can relate to - hence the suitable album title.
The Snuts have really cornered the brutal truth behind the millennial lifestyle and made it so entertaining it’s easier to digest and take in what can really be calls for help. There is no easier way to ask for help than through music.
This theme continues with tracks such as ‘Deep Diving’, which discusses masking pain and suffering behind the flow of alcohol and the glass of a bottle. Cochrane is “drowning in my feels tonight” as he hides away and forfeits his own inhibitions, looking to survive just one more night and deal with the consequences in the morning.
As catchy as the track sounds, along with other similarly themed tunes, there is something a little darker disguising within the lines. Creeping it’s scary facts within the fun bouncy instrumental backgrounds, being a badly kept secret when being played. If that is not an accurate description of surviving the ever-evolving hellscape of the world as a young adult, then there is no way to depict such.
Millennials is a semi-autobiographical tale of how the world is burning, fantasy has slipped into cold harsh reality, and life is just passing by while there’s nothing anyone can solely do to make it change. It’s sad, it’s hurtful, it’s a car crash, but it’s how it is and all anyone can do is just survive one day at a time. This is the story of the millennials, and here’s hoping it has a happy ending.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
