Yellowcard – Childhood Eyes

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Much like seeing an old friend that you thought you’d never run into again, reunions bring back a flood of memories that make you realize just how important these people are in your life. When Yellowcard announced that they would be playing a show at Chicago’s Riot Fest in 2022, the band realized that there was still a lot of positive energy that happens when they get together. When I last chatted with lead vocalist, Ryan Key, he mentioned that there was a feeling within the Yellowcard camp that their last two albums, Lift a Sail and their self-titled, were made “more for them” in the band and that this latest EP, Childhood Eyes, would have the potential of getting longtime fans of the band excited in the direction they’re taking. Key mentioned in a different interview, “We knew we were writing an EP which meant we only got five songs, so we had to really make them special. And I think there was an immediate sense of bringing it back to Paper Walls—the idea that we need to make something that we’re proud of, but also something that gets Yellowcard fans excited about what we’re doing. So at that point, we picked up the guitars and started demoing and, honestly, I think these five songs could have just been on that record in 2007. And I love that.” By getting that familiar, yet glorious feeling of reinvigorating their passion for playing music together again, Yellowcard have made a dramatic collection of songs that not only lives up to the legacy they built, but hints at the possibility of more music in the future.

Kicking things off on the right foot with the dual-vocal attack from Key and Pierce the Veil’s Vic Fuentes taking turns on the lyrics in “Three Minutes More,” Yellowcard sets the stage of their triumphant return. The chorus of, “So long I was luckless in love / Lockets holding memories of / A radio repeating hooks of my own / Cocktails and crushes and sleeping alone / I tried to thicken my skin / Hold tight take refuge within / It’s different this time looking up at this sky / Three minutes more might just save me this time,” reminds the long-time listeners of the band of why they fell in love with them in the first place. The lyrics paint a bit of the conflict of looking back on their legacy, while wanting to make a dramatic statement moving forward.

The title track was the only song to be released prior to the EP hitting the streets today, and it does the job of getting that “Yellowcard feeling” back in full swing. The first verse of, “I’m all alone at the altar now / I’ve got an atheist heart / You swept it under the rug and bailed / Oh, you’re a real work of art / If only I was the drug you did / Stuck in a vein in your arm / Then maybe you would have stuck around / Just like the addict you are,” features great lyrical wordplay by Key, paired with nice guitar riffing by Ryan Mendez. As the song unfolds, the band continues to add in more musical elements, like Josh Portman’s pulsating bass line and violinist Sean Mackin’s trademark way of adding in contextual layers to the mix.

”Hiding in the Light” follows with a steady beat paired with a sound that is eerily reminiscent of the style of Paper Walls, yet it sounds like a re-energized version of that era. Key’s lyrics in the triumphant chorus, “All this traveling in time / Trying to pull myself apart / You were hiding in the light / I was drowning in the dark / Now I’ll choose life, and I’ll get by / And sing until the day I die / All this traveling in time / Trying to pull myself apart / It’s over,” find him navigating through a dark period in his life, potentially without Yellowcard, and wanting to get that dramatic feeling back in his life. Other songs like, “Honest From The Jump” feature one of the best hooks in the band’s career to date with the floaty, transitional vocals from Key in the chorus that brings me all the way back into the glory days of Yellowcard. On the longest song on Childhood Eyes, the band takes their time in telling the story of their revival, while adding in the textured, atmospheric elements that they tinkered so well with on Lift a Sail. This song brings that feeling of “coming home” and being next to people that mean the most to us in our lives in a remarkable, and meaningful way.

Closing out the set with the largely acoustic-based “The Places We’ll Go” is a nice choice of continuing the story and sound that the band explored on their self-titled record, but the guest vocals by Chris Carrabba are truly a marvel to hear unfold in real-time. The chorus of, “But you were still somewhere / Deep in my heart / You were still all that I had from the start / And I wanna show you / The ways that I’ve grown / I want you to show me / The places we’ll go,” does a remarkable job of summarizing the feelings of getting back together with people you have missed, and creating something new and beautiful in the next chapter of our lives. Yellowcard accomplish the near-impossible task of getting their old fans excited with the direction they’re taking, while possibly introducing themselves to more casual fans that also enjoy the music from key collaborators like Pierce the Veil and Dashboard Confessional. Childhood Eyes tackles the themes of reuniting, looking forward while still remembering the past, and finding out what’s most important in the lives we’d like to live. I’d like to think that Yellowcard are here for the long haul, and I think we’re all better off with them back.

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