Eventually, pop songs will defeat you. They've beaten teenage posturing, steadfast commitment to rough edges and fear of selling out inside the distance, and your band is next. For Joyce Manor, the writing has been on the wall for a long time already. The Torrance, California punks have worn their hooks on their sleeves since their earliest thrashings, but an album like 'Cody' is still a bold move into calmer waters.
Where ‘Never Hungover Again' embraced their roughhousing roots in a manner more straightforwardly pleasing than the awkward, cult-classic-from-the-get-go ‘Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired', ‘Cody' also taps into the latter's slightly crooked view of pop music. The result is a mixture of the two that stands as the most complete rendering of the band's many appealing qualities to date.
Barry Johnson has forced the lid closed on a batch of brilliant songs that move from straight-up power pop to acoustic introversion in a heartbeat.
Much has been made of the band, who have a knack for brevity verging on a compulsion, passing four minutes (!) on Stairs but their ability to keep the wheels turning remains a strength.
From Fake ID's eminently quotable hook to the quite simply faultless Reversing Machine, ‘Cody' is an example of a band in fine form and able to execute with minimal fuss.
Each tiny vignette is lovingly rendered, pasting snapshots of social anxiety, loneliness and gentle nostalgia onto melodies that won't quit. It seems strange to characterise an album as outwardly pretty as this one as relentless, but the hooks simply keep coming.
Producer Rob Schnapf, a veteran of LPs by Elliott Smith and Kevin Devine and no stranger to indie-rock melodies or balancing light and shade, has done a sympathetic job of bringing a batch of songs with a soft centre to fruition without losing their sense of energy. The guitars are still loud, but they are playing as part of a team.
Joyce Manor are nicely poised to follow the Menzingers from fringe concern to underground hero status, with ‘Cody' the sort of record that has multiple avenues open in order to launch a charm offensive. Being overwhelmed by pop songs is a hell of a way to go.
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