The Daily Spin, May 21
The Backseat Lovers | Waiting to Spill
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Waiting To Spill (2022)
Artist: The Backseat Lovers
Link:
With Waiting to Spill, the Backseat Lovers establish the heartbreaking turmoil of growing older. It’s lovely growth from their first record, When We Were Friends, an album more about love and lust than this one, much more dominated by the hopes and fears that accompany the reality of the incessant beat of time.
There’s a raw energy that pairs particularly well with the instrumentation used here - all of it sounds very unpolished, allowing the emotion to shine through as much as I believe it deserves to. They’re certainly not unique in applying a technique like this - take, for example, Catfish and the Bottlemen, who do this exact sort of sound about as well as I think it can be done. It’s something that’s easy to get wrong, though, and any group that can nail it deserves plaudits accordingly.
Sometimes, that rough edge grates at the ears, and it isn’t always an impeccable listening experience, but I think that, if not else, adds to the atmosphere carved out by this album.
Rating: 8.2/10
Best Tracks: Growing/Dying; Know Your Name
Worst Tracks: Following the Sound