By Allegra Papera
Online Arts Editor
Despite a few enjoyable pop tracks, Grouplove’s third album “Big Mess” fails to impress with either vapid or cheesy lyrics, a lack of smooth transitions, and an irritating sound throughout its songs.
Grouplove is a Los Angeles based indie pop band formed by Hannah Hooper in 2009. The band’s lineup includes Hannah Hooper on both vocals and keyboard, Sean Gadd on bass, Ryan Rabin on drums, and Christian Zucconi and Andrew Wessen both on vocals and guitar.
Grouplove released their chart topping premier album, “Never Trust a Happy Song” in 2011 and their second, “Spreading Rumours”, in 2013. The band spent their in-between years working on tracks to be featured in the TV show “Bojack Horseman” and the film “Paper Towns” before their release of “Big Mess.”
Check out Rolling Stone Magazine’s thoughts on the album here.
“Big Mess” features songs that initially captivate listeners with its sounds that seem to embody the qualities of a quintecential a hit pop song. Simple beats and progressions accompanied by repetitive lyrics make for mindlessly appealing tracks at first, but soon become boring as they lull on without any outstanding moments or sounds. The turning of potentially enjoyable songs into irritating humdrum makes the record a chore to listen to.
Another downfall of the album is its harsh transitions from verses to choruses. On the first track, “Welcome to Your Life”, the transitions from verses to choruses seem so abrupt that the two parts could be mistaken for entirely separate songs. This flaw takes away from the overall quality of the song, making the album difficult to enjoy.
“Big Mess” neglects to save audibly unappealing songs with quality lyrics, featuring vapid gibberish on its tracks. “Good Morning,” introduces its pre-chorus with lyrics “From the black to the blue, To black, black, you like that?” that serve no purpose to the song, and overall, associate the album with cheesy nonsense.
Irritating vocals play a major part in the album’s faults, as it appears on every song. Tracks such as “Enlighten Me” are sung with seemingly whiny and immature vocals. The singing almost sounds squeaky, making the tracks, sound incredibly harsh and unpleasant. This quality works as a strong negative force against the album as a whole, as it is consistent throughout its entirety.
Despite its major flaws , “Big Mess” does offer some redemption with a few moderately enjoyable tracks such as “Cannonball.” Its high energy makes for a fun and excitable song with consistent beats and riffs throughout. Its simplicity makes an appealing and danceable song, that serves as a silver lining in the generally forgettable album.
Click here to listen to “Big Mess.”
Overall, “Big Mess” is disappointing, as its cheesiness and lack of successful transitions make listening to the album feel like a task rather than a desirable pastime. Despite its efforts, the album is unimpressive and rather forgettable.
“Big Mess” was released on September 9 and is available for purchase on iTunes for $7.99.
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