ALBUM REVIEW: We Were Promised Jetpacks keeps a great thing going
We Were Promised Jetpacks debuted in 2009 with their album "These Four Walls" which can only be described as an instant classic.
Successfully following that landmark album was a daunting task indeed, as even the slightest drop in quality would end up sounding like a sophomore slump.
However, We Were Promised Jetpacks was more than up to the challenge. Their second album, "In The Pit Of The Stomach," evolves the band's sound and creates an album with nary a single fleck of damage on its statuesque, porcelain visage.
The keyword here is “atmosphere” — WWPJ has taken their already fantastic post-punk songwriting and thrown in a heaping helping of post-rock influence. The combination sounds so simple, like something Interpol should have perfected by now, yet this particular take on it is so fresh sounding.
Take the single “Medicine," when the chorus hits, instead of being a regular increase in musical tenacity, the chorus hit like a wall of sound.
While you won’t find any extremely abrasive moments like last album’s “Quiet Little Voices,” WWPJ is still able to maintain their tenseness and aggression with a more echoing, melodic sound, creating a more focused album.
The first half of the album showcases this greatly, as the songs are more spacey and melodic, while actually taking a bit of a hit in aggression. However, songs like “Circles and Squares” and “Hard To Remember” are strong and memorable.
The “problem” (put in quotations, because it’s hardly a problem) is the second half of the album. Not to say the first half is bad, because it isn’t — there are many good songs — but from “Picture Of Health” onward, the songwriting is ear-bleedingly amazing.
It’s as if the first half was WWPJ working with their new sound and the second half is them perfecting it. This is where their new direction absolutely shines. Songs like “Sore Thumb” are brilliant post-rock songs and songs like “Boy In The Backseat” hold this extreme dramatic tension in the music.
All of this culminates to the album closer, “Pear Tree,” a song so powerful that it acts as the perfect final note. Just the sheer power behind the music, even when at its quietest, is something to behold. When the music is done building up and crashes into its final soaring fanfare, the listener will be too preoccupied with the music to bother picking up their jaw.
"In The Pit Of The Stomach" is exactly what any We Were Promised Jetpacks fan could ask for. It is a brilliant follow-up to their debut work with new territories the band is exploring. The only fault this album may have is that the second half almost chumps the first half, but with expert songwriting front to back, the band seizes the day and successfully avoids any sort of sophomore slump.
Genre: Post-Punk Revival Rating: 5 out of 5
