Fall Out Boy – Lake Effect Kid

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“I love you, Chicago,” Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy sings on the closing notes of the second track “City in a Garden,” and, in a lot of ways, Lake Effect Kid, is very much a love letter to Chicago and all of the band’s memories surrounding their city. Nostalgia aside, Fall Out Boy have shown that they have not peaked, and the Lake Effect Kid EP showcases some of their best work to date.

The album opener and title track showcases a very guitar-heavy sound, backed by the trademark vocal delivery of Stump and the breakneck beats of Andrew Hurley. It’s on this track that Fall Out Boy begin to reminisce of their home with lyrics such as: “Summer love on a gurney with a squeaky wheel/And joke us, joke us/’Til Lakeshore Drive comes back into focus/I just wanna come back to life/Spark my crazy head to keep your woman alive.” Through this experiment of moving their minds back to their roots, and re-recording a song that was found on a previous mix-tape, Fall Out Boy have simultaneously appeased both sides of the coin of their audience: those who think they lost focus after Folie a Deux and those who love they continue to adapt to modern sounds on Save Rock and Roll and beyond.

While some casual fans of Fall Out Boy may write this EP off as just a blip on the radar of reminding them why they used to like this band, I feel they would be doing a big disservice to themselves. For those who have followed the band through each album, Lake Effect Kid is incredibly rewarding. The track that continues some of the electronic sounds of MANIAis “Super Fade.” It’s on this track that the group brings back some of the electronic beats and synths, yet with the thematic elements of the EP, with lyrics such as “Chicago gets my soul,” and the track does not feel out of place.

So what we are left with is a wonderful, cohesive, collection of three songs that remind us of why we fell in love with this band in the first place. The love letter may have been for Chicago, but the sincerity is felt far beyond their hometown as Fall Out Boy have given us three songs to spin over and over again as we close out the Summer.

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The first song is great

 

I mentioned in the other thread that "City in a Garden" was by far my least favorite, but listening again, I'm dumb and that track's great.

 

Lake Effect is great, good to hear a crispy version of it after all these years. I deleted the other two songs from my library, the EP kinda feels like a bait and switch to pull some fans of their early stuff back in. I wish it was more of a throwback EP. Hearing the difference in writing between Lack Effect and the other two songs kinda bums me out.

 

First song got me excited, last two are weak.

 

Last ones my favorite.

 

So I guess it’s the decided that the middle track is the weakest

 

I heavily disagree Second songs my fav, even if I would kill for an album of just more Follie re-recorded demos

 

Middle track is the weakest because it's only good and the other two make me want to scream from rooftops

 

The title track is the Fall Out Boy I love.

 

If they could do a hybrid of tracks one and two as far as sonic direction for a future release or album, I would soooo be on board with that. Can't get into track three, just not for me.

 

It's weird seeing people praise lake effect kid for being so different and early fob sounding but if anything I was like... This kinda confirms to me that the divide between their old stuff and new isn't that big?

 

I heard Lake Effect Kid and immediately thought it was Folie A Deux sounding without knowing it was a re-recorded version of a demo from that era. Easily the best iteration of FOB for me.

 

Hands down. Folie is my favorite record of theirs.

 

Totally agreed. The core songwriting that makes FOB great is still there in the new stuff, and always has been.

 

I've mildly enjoyed everything they've put out since the hiatus, but I cannot describe how much a breath of fresh air it was to hear Lake Effect Kid. I'm madly in love with their songwriting from the Folie era, no band has really tried that style since. I'm not going to whine about wanting the old FOB back, because I legitimately loved stuff like Young and Menace and Bishop's Knife Trick but... if they wrote songs like the Folie era again I would not complain.

it's funny how much just hearing Andy's drums sound like Andy's drums really brings their sound back to me, even in the second track. I do love how the third track is basically an extension of Young and Menace. I'm here for that.

 

Lake Effect is such a infinity on high song for me- I know it's from that general era, but it's great to see them do this kind of song again. The other two are above average for new fall out boy, but I'm not super into em.

 

Always loved that song so much, really glad they've re-recorded it, and they chose the right person to go along with, too! Love that whole EP eventually, and the video is awesome! First time in a long time I woke up singing FOB in my head, though I've enjoyed all of their albums so far.

 

do we know that they actually rerecorded Lake Effect Kid? It sounds straight up from the FaD sessions... City sounds like it was recorded in the AB/AP sessions, and Super Fade obviously from MANIA

 

yep

 

I am loving this EP.

 

Lake Effect Kid (the song) reminded me how much I love this band's first four albums. I wouldn't ever ask them to go back to that sound because they are entitled to do whatever music they feel inspired to create, but it was great to hear it again.

I thought each song was a little worse than the one that preceded it though.

 

They didn't change all that much, which is what I'm quite happy about! But it sounds absolutely fresh and clean.

I admit I was afraid there might be a chance for a case like with My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark - it was a totally different song, but with the same title before.