As far as Half Noise, I don't looove that they waste a song on it, but it's no different to me than bands doing a cover song so it's a no harm done situation especially when they're playing over 20 songs anyway.
Self titled has some good songs but it’s too long and has some not good songs. After Laughter is borderline perfect. AWKIF is the one I have most the most nostalgia for so I rank that one really high. Riot is great. Brand New Eyes is one that I remember being great but I haven’t listened to it in a really long time.
For me, it’s a battle between This Is Why and Brand New Eyes for their best record. However, I think it’s safe to say their debut All We Know.. is their weakest effort which makes sense given how young they all were when it was written.
The new album transports me to the late 2000s/early 2010s when it was very cool in indie rock to be self-serious and play with moodier post rock instrumentals and a lot of artist sounded like the Dirty Projectors and Warpaint. IMO, that era hasn’t aged very well and I tend to like it more when bands offset serious subject matter and messages with juxtaposing musical vibes. I think after laughter is perfect at doing that.
TIW ≥ AL ≥ PFA ≥ S/T = BNE > FFV > Riot! > AWKIF the top 5 can rotate depending on the day. and no, TIW at the top is not due to recency bias, lol