Direction just didn't fit the scene and the genre was just in a weird place. Saying that. It's musically phenomenal and one of my favorite albums, totally deserved more widespread popularity. BOATS is a classic but that whole release strategy was just bungled. SILYMI is perfect for its time for sure but pure Nostalgia I still listen to songs from all three. I'd love to have another album.
I love how they sounded on Anyways, especially bass and keys, and I absolutely return to everything in their discography, but this year I went back to that EP the most, but relistened to BOATS and Direction as well. Last year I went back to SILYMI a lot as it was the 20th anniversary
So most of us agree that Anyways EP doesn't sound great but they sound great on the Live at Studio 4 stuff when it's the same producer.....
Look, I don't want to be the asshole here, but... Will Yip has become a MUCH better producer in the 8 years between those releases
2007 to 2015: 8 years 2015 to 2023: 8 years edit: never mind the full ep did not drop in 2015, only the title track did, so give or take a few months in that case
SILYMI is the perfect summer album and fills me with so much nostalgia. That said I think Direction is their magnum opus.