Taking Back Sunday
New Again
Warner 7/10
Taking Back Sunday, if anything, have always embodied – perhaps even defined – the melodramatic era of the post-hardcore/emo ‘movement’. You know, the era that seemed to abruptly end when the ‘genre’ moved onto the tongue in cheek irony pop of 2008/2009. So while their over-the-top, dual vocal, strained voice, psychoemotional ballads we’re getting kind of annoying (if not disturbing – in a “chill out dudes” kinda way) back when they released 2006’s Louder Now, it now seems high time for another TBS emotional thrill ride… Only it seems this time around Adam Lazarra and crew have grown up. With just the one vocalist
projecting simple melodies wrapped around easy structures and guitar lines, New Again doesn’t have the same frenetic energy of the TBS of old. Don’t get me wrong, this is hardly a big departure from albums past – in fact, it surprises me they only changed this much in three years – but it does have a more mature feel. Lyrically, Lazarra still seems like the kinda guy that girls would stay with to stop him committing suicide or stalking them – but now he might only stalk them for three months instead of a year. A decent album by a band progressing from an emotional past to an adult contemporary future, New Again is our first insight into how millennium emo kids age.
Luke Logemann
