Created an account just to post here. Threads is literally my favorite album of all time, so bear with me. Look, bands can change their sound and make it work. I loved Title Fight's Hyperview, for example. But Saved I just thought was so bad, I couldn't even finish it. It sounds like a Sombear record with Cacie's vocals thrown on top. It's not just a taste thing either--I mean, good pop is good pop. They mentioned Carly Rae Jepsen leading up to this release, and I can dig her stuff. But aside from 2 of the singles and maybe Holy Water, this is really forgettable stuff. I don't understand why people are so on board with them changing their sound this drastically when the songs are so bland and shallow. I wanted to like this album. Heck, I waited years for it. But it's a little crazy how these guys, with all their indie rock talent, decided the best way to come back would be a more-or-less run-of-the-mill pop record. SGL is really solid, and if the whole album sounded like that, I'd be totally on board with it. But overall, this thing sounds really uninspired both on its own terms, and compared with their older stuff. I miss Jess being in the band. Just my two cents as a longtime fan.
I don't think this is anything close to "run of the mill". They didn't want to make another indie rock album. I don't think it sounds uninspired at all, and if anything, this is the most confident in themselves they've sounded and are completely happy with how everything came out. It's damn good pop music, and the notion that they're wasting their "indie rock talent" on a pop album is weird to me
I understand not liking this record and that’s totally cool. I agree with Joe that I don’t think it sounds uninspired and KC has said this is the most confident they’ve been in their writing. I quite like the more Sombear sounding parts.
yeah, i agree with a lot of these points. i'm not stunned if people don't like this record who liked threads, in fact it makes a whole lot of sense. but it's definitely what they wanted to do as a band not sure they could have really expanded on the threads sound anyways
SGL, AZ, and Set It Free all feel like very direct progressions/continuations from Threads, so it’s hard for me to imagine someone who loved Theeads not liking at least those songs. Aside from those, Can’t Help Myself, Knowme, and Powder all very much have a Threads shading to them as well
im not gonna lie i think this is an extremely logical progression from threads and kind of is an expansion on the threads sound, they amped up the pop and electronic/beat influences that werent as prominent but still present on that record.
I'll never get on board with the concept of "wasting" talent. They don't owe you anything. They can write what they want. I also think it's so silly to say this doesn't make sense as a follow-up. They amped up some electric elements, but the guitars are still very much classic Now, Now. As for "shallow," KC pretty much said it was because she felt so uncomfortable shrouding herself in mystery and ~deep poetry that she just wanted to write and say what she actually felt.
and not to disparage threads, one of my favorite albums of all time, but its not like it was this massively complex and technical album musically, it was pretty standard indie rock but with the personality of the band members shining through to give it the feeling that made it so inviting. this album does pretty much the same but in a different lane.
yeah thats what i was trying to say, and call me crazy but i think saved is also a mood and atmosphere record, just a different mood and different atmosphere, thats why id call it a natural progression from threads, they're clearly using the same techniques they did on that album in new ways
i can agree with all of that. but it's also in a way where i can clearly understand why some people aren't into it
also random thought but i think the production on saved is about a hundred times better than the production on threads. everything is just so clean and crisp
yeah every records gonna have people who liked the last one that wont be on board regardless of what the record sounds like, i just think the majority of people who liked threads should like this, but if people dont i understand
i don't think threads would have succeeded with cleaner production though, while if this record was fuzzier it wouldn't have worked either
of course not but all those big washes of reverb on every instrument in threads makes it pretty muddy at times. even when reverb is incorporated here it doesnt feel like that
i also think that the threads fans that don't like this need to look into more of the deeper tracks as opposed to more of the straight pop songs, but at the same time i can see the instrumental reasons why the songs that have closer vibes to threads didn't hit for some people
yeah i love when bands have different albums for different seasons, i hope they keep making music so we get our spring and autumn records from them lol
I loved Threads and like plenty of 'pop' music. Not got any particular issues with this album except that I find the lyrics quite poor and shallow, and some of the melodies are repetitive. I get the feeling that they're still working out the sound they want and the next album will be considerably more expansive and experimental