SYML - SYML (May 3, 2019) Album

This is the debut album from Brian Fennell, singer of the Seattle indie rock band Barcelona. It follows the 2018 EP, In My Body and continues along the vein of a pretty modern pop sound.

1. Clean Eyes
2. Wildfire
3. Bed
4. Where’s My Love
5. Break Free
6. Animal
7. The Bird
8. Girl
9. Connor
10. WDWGILY
11. Everything All At Once
12. Before You Knew It was Me

 

This album is super enjoyable and Brian has one of my favorite voices in this general style of music. Absolutes is still one of my favorite indie rock records of the ‘00s!

 

Absolutes is awesome. Really enjoyed both ep's and can't wait to check this out.

 

I actually had no idea he had a solo thing going! Halfway into the first song I hear my girlfriend yell from the other room “is this Barcelona??” and I’m like “uhhhh no, but it..... sure sounds like Brian”

 

I never got to see Barcelona live unfortunately but I did get to see SYML. The cool thing is he will be touring with a full band now. When I saw him it was only him on stage.

 

@Patterns in Traffic tagging you in case you didn't know about this

 

You've heard the og release of Absolutes right? The one with You Will Pull Through. Just want to be sure because the rerelease was good too but that original release is even better imo. Production on the re release was a little too polished but I did like the added tracks but they left off You Will Pull Through tho.

 

Lmao I love that you bring that up, the original version is one of the only albums I actually have stored on my phone because I know there’s not another way to access it since streaming services only have the re-release. It’s the only way to listen to Absolutes imo — you just can’t beat that OG version of Colors! Tracklist flows a lot better too.

 

I'm liking this SYML record. The Bird is a standout to me. On Wdglgllyy rn

 

Yeah that really shines in the back half, The Bird through the end is a fantastic run. Connor puts me in a place

 

I'm super excited to listen to this but haven't had a chance yet.

I love Absolutes but never heard the OG version. I did look up the song(s) that were left off the rerelease but never listened to the OG recordings of the others.

 

This album is amazing! Not as flawless as Absolutes, but you can really tell how his songwriting has progressed. Gonna be on my list of best albums this year for sure.

Clean Eyes doesn’t get enough love.

 

I like S/T a good bit but this is a big step up for me. “Laughing At The Storm” and the title track are immediate highlights for me. And that’d be super cool if “Howling” becomes his “Take Me To Church” moment since that song has such Hozier vibes although idk if he has that much industry push

 

I also found the new album to be a big step up, much more diversity than I expected. A lot of Local Natives vibes and some Simon & Garfunkle