I don’t have a witty intro for you right now. Sorry guys. It’s a Monday and I’m feeling both tired and energized at the same time. I don’t want to waste this unexpected sense of energy so let’s just jump right into Between The Jars’ new album ‘What’s To Come’.
This album starts with “The Swarm”. This track instantly had me in the palm of Between The Jars’ hands. There’s something moody and dark about the instrumentation and then something inexplicably theatrical about the vocals. They match the instrumentation perfectly creating this sense of synchronicity that comes off a little experimental in a way. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like this so I really have no clue what to compare it to but I think that will be the basis of this band and this album. A bit all over the place genre-wise and constantly evolving with layers upon layers of instrumentation and vocals. I don’t know exactly where this album is going to go but I know I’m ready for the ride!
I love the dancey beat that kicks off “All In Me”. This more standard and classical styled dance beat was a huge divergence of the first track but this song still screamed Between The Jars just due to the unique layers and moody vocals. I found myself dancing around in my chair like a damn fool to the infectious beat so much that I had to listen to it twice before moving onto “Untethered”. “Untethered” replaces the danciness of “All In Me” with a more hollow and tender sound. The sudden mood shift was, well, sudden but it was brilliant. As stated as soon as I listened to the opening track, I had a feeling this album was going to be all over the place stylistically and “Untethered” was a perfect example of that. I’ll be honest, this track was a bit too slow-moving to fit my current mood but there’s no denying the tender power that comes with it.
“The Volume Rat” was my favorite track within just a few seconds. The opening lick of this track alone was enough to catch me but the swagger that comes in with the vocals on this one was what really caught me. Again, a complete shift from the previous tracks, I loved the energy in this song and it was just what I needed to keep me going tonight. Although it’s definitely a bit more in your face than “Untethered”, there are still undeniable nods to the tenderness and beauty that was laid out on that track. It was crazy to me how this band was able to have two completely different styled tracks back to back while making sure you could hear the similarities.
It’s no shock but there’s another huge mood shift as the album moves onto “Passing Through”. It’s almost just a tad bit more math rock and proggy while still continuing to nod back to the sounds laid out on the previous songs. It’s really quite genius what this band has pulled off but it also made this album move far too fast. Between the pure intrigue, I felt while listening to this track and the driving bassline, this track was over before I knew it and “Collision” had pushed its way onto my speakers with its tender and beautiful opening guitar lick. Although the second to last track on this brilliant album, Between The Jars proved on “Collision” that they still have so much more to show. Although this track seems a bit hollow compared to the previous songs, the ambient and atmospheric mood of this one kept me on my toes. I normally don’t do purely atmospheric tracks like this but the way Between The Jars adds and subtracts layers to this track along with tagging in little vocals parts of people over walkie talkies to just add to the atmosphere, it just had me hooked with my jaw on the top of my desk.
I wanted to hear so much more from this band but as soon as the familiar beat of “All In Me” took over for the final track, “All In Me (Reprise)”, I knew it was done. I will say that I love how the band wrapped up this album with a look back at a previous track as to not leave a bunch of loose ends. That being said, I plan on spending a lot more time with this band tomorrow. I still just have so many unanswered questions and am still completely filled with wonder when it comes to Between The Jars.
My Favorite Track(s): “The Volume Rat”
For Fans Of: Genreless Music; Surprises
Dance-Ability: 7 out of 10
What My Cats Thought Of It: Artie slept behind me; Autumn slept upstairs
How Badly I Want To See This Performed Live: 7 out of 10
My Overall Rating: 7 out of 10
Check Out Between The Jars Here:
Check out ‘What’s To Come’ HERE!
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