By Raushan Melton
Staff Writer
Forced, boring and lacking depth, “Wiped Out!,” the second studio album by The Neighbourhood, is unimpressive.
“Wiped Out!” fails to showcase the band’s talent as even though the songs employ a number of different rhythms, the majority of the album is disposable, with laughable lyrics and an absence of intricate musical elements.
Founded in 2011, the Los Angeles-based indie rock band The Neighbourhood initially became popular with their 2012 hit single, “Sweater Weather.”
After the band’s radio success in 2012, The Neighborhood followed up with a full-length debut album, “I Love You.” “Wiped Out!” is the band’s second studio album.
A highlight of the album opens with “Moment of Silence,” a track that is simply 34 seconds of silence. This tranquil track manages to create tension, painting the image that what is to come in the album will be grand. However, the rest of the album is a disappointment, failing to live up to the expectations set by the album’s first song.
All songs that follow contain painfully cliche lyrics. For example, in “Cry Baby,” lead singer Jesse Rutherford hums to the forced lyrics, “the sun’s coming up, but I’m feeling colder, I can’t wait till the drought is over.” The band’s clumsy attempts to use figures of speech seem like they all missed a lesson in sixth grade English class as to how to construct a logical metaphor. Similarly, uncreative lyrics stream in songs “The Beach” and “Single.”
Not only are the lyrics in the album bland, but at times they are also creepy and ominous. For instance, in the song “Daddy Issues,” Rutherford lets out awkward coos such as, “I know that you’ve got daddy issues, and if you were my little girl, I’d do whatever I could do.” Unpleasant and disturbing to decipher, The Neighbourhood dropped the ball with such a bizarre and unsettling song.
Additionally, the album contains excruciatingly slow and boring tempos. Songs like “Ferrari” and “Greetings from California” painstakingly grudge on as forgettable due to their drawn-out nature. Up until the last song of the album (excluding “Prey”), soft instrumentals blend with poorly filtered vocals in a failed attempt to distract from the utter absence of emotional resonance. Subpar lyrics and dry instrumentation mash together chaotically in almost every track, and the music’s blandness fails to create any intriguing substance.
“Prey” is the only track with an intimate core. Rutherford sings, “Something is up, I feel like preying.” Due to the entire album sounding like an ode to one’s freedom years, the word “preying” could be heard as “praying.” This interesting addition open to interpretation is one of the only aspects of the album that adds intrigue and hints at innovtion.
With catchy drums, “R.I.P 2 My Youth” is the only other song that has potential. Rutherford finally shows a powerful grip on the content of the lyrics, his voice thick with effort. Along with “Prey,” these two songs seem to vibrate with an emotional meaning but do not save the entire album.
All in all, “Wiped Out!” is easily a mundane album. With unexciting beats and strange lyrics that lack depth, “Wiped Out!” is an utter failure.
“Wiped Out!” was released on Oct. 30 and is available for purchase on iTunes.
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