Live Review: Joyce Manor - 'I Used To Go To This Bar'
Modern emo heir apparents Joyce Manor release their 8th studio album with an amalgamation of inspiration to create an honest blend of beautifully handcrafted songs.
Joyce Manor have been a mainstay of the modern emo scene for the last decade and have delivered time and time again with suburban heartbreak classics that have serenaded multiple generations of fans. “I Used To Go To This Bar” is an album for every fan that they have accumulated along their arduous journey to the top of the scene, showing true prowess in their more distinct songwriting format, with tracks like “Grey Guitar” and “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives” helping bridge the gap into some softer and more sincere songs such as “All My Friends Are So Depressed”. The level of experimentation on this album is crystal clear, and for a band that has been building themselves up brick by brick in such a deep genre, it is evident that this experimentation has kept the party going year after year.
The singles for this album mainly preside over the opening half of the project, helping it set off to a flying start, with the instant classic “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives”. This track keeps their rugged and brutalist style of the previous albums while adding a new lick of paint, keeping things crisp and transparent, really allowing the listener to feel every chord and every downbeat emanating from the California 3 piece. The creative process then veers into a separate lane for the following 2 singles, “All My Friends Are So Depressed” and “Well Whatever it was”, with the former being a reflective and honest track about the struggle of being caught in an echo chamber of depression. Be it through self-infliction or a product of your peers, those you surround yourself with can impact your lifestyle in the deepest ways, and this track speaks to that in the most innate way possible. The messaging is laid between the lines of gorgeous minor chord progressions that carry not only an emotional weight but a musical glimmer of hope as they occasionally transition into a rhythmic display of bright and happier notes. The latter of these singles then hits a sharp turn and takes the audience on an upbeat journey of hope and letting go of what may be weighing you down. This track is crowded with upbeat power chords and excellent dynamic changes in the drumming and guitar riff patterns. This song is yet another display of the band pulling influence from all corners of their mind, dragging a more pop-focused influence into the fold to drive home the message that times arrow marches on.
The back half of the album contains a lot of deeper cuts that all maintain the quality of the single choices. In all honesty, I would hate to be their producer, as you could easily close your eyes and point at any track from this 9-track masterclass to use as the promotional engine for the album. Some of the standouts from the latter half of the album include songs like “I Used To Go To This Bar”, “After All You Put Me Through”, “The Opossum” and one of the best album closers I’ve heard recently in “Grey Guitar”. The title track of this album encompasses everything this band has become, with a ridiculously upbeat lead line that’s reminiscent of many excellent pop punk tracks of yesteryear. Joyce Manor have cranked out one of the catchiest songs of their repertoire. This uplifting and dance track then gives way to “After All You Put Me Through”, and whilst this track has bright and funky chord progressions, the thumping and consistent baseline takes the helm and creates a dichotomy of emotion and sound. The conflicting instrumental parts create this perfect middle ground for the vocals to do some heavy lifting to create a perfectly well-crafted track. This path of invention then continues to improvise as the album marches forward with “The Opossum” This cowboy-rock-esque track is full of life and vibrance while still managing to remain a Joyce Manor song. The studio must have been electric during the creation of this album, as every track has a life of its own and could easily stand tall unaccompanied.
The album moves swiftly on to the closer “Grey Guitar”, and this may be one of the best emo/pop punk songs written in the last 5 years. It has catchy hooks and brutal lyricism about loss and attempting to move forward through the vessel of distraction. This song has been ingrained in my mind since my first listen, and I find myself coming back multiple times a day to have my world shattered all over again by its sheer brilliance.
Joyce Manor has produced a truly all-weather album with “I Used To Go To This Bar”, and it does not miss a beat. As a very long-time fan of this band, this project excites me thoroughly, and I cannot wait for them to tour the wheels off of this album, as it is something that the world needs to hear.
Words by Josh Pook
