It\u2019s a rare band that gets to say goodbye on its own terms.<\/p>\n
News was abundant over summer 2016 that Yellowcard was recording their 10th and final album and calling it quits after 20 years, and in late September the album finally came out. Perhaps the experience of the album will forever be colored by knowing that it\u2019s the end, but it\u2019s tough not to read double meaning into many of the lyrics. \u201cIf this was the last time that we would ever speak\u2026could we let it rest in peace?\u201d sings Ryan Key, and he could well be talking to an ex-girlfriend or his loyal fans.<\/p>\n
Most people remember Yellowcard as one of the pop-punk-emo bands that littered the landscape at the turn of the century, in the same vein as Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, Simple Plan and so forth; their major-label debut Ocean Avenue <\/i>was a hot seller in 2003 because of this, but it wasn\u2019t a sound that seemed destined to last (especially once Green Day rewrote the rules with American Idiot<\/i>). If you\u2019ve never been a fan of this sound \u2013 the whiny vocals still grate on me, personally \u2013 then Yellowcard <\/i>won\u2019t fully change your mind.<\/p>\n
However, the sincerity, maturity, and tight musicianship of these guys is evident no matter your level of fandom. If this is what punk-poppers sound like all grown up, I may rethink my aversion to the genre. \u201cLeave A Light On\u201d is absolutely lovely, a piano ballad with Sean Mackin\u2019s impressive violin work (this band\u2019s secret weapon) and Key\u2019s wistful vocals. \u201cGot Yours\u201d and \u201cSavior\u2019s Robes\u201d roar with punk intensity and \u201cThe Hurt Is Gone\u201d chugs with a latter-day Pearl Jam intensity, riding its groove for six minutes before fading out on a single low note.<\/p>\n
And although \u201cEmpty Street\u201d is pretty run-of-the-mill musically, lines like \u201cI won\u2019t be with you, but I won\u2019t be far away\u201d are destined to evoke emotion from fans of any stripe. \u201cWrecking Ball\u201d will do the same for any father and husband; appropriately, the song features a hushed folky acoustic guitar and nothing else, and it\u2019s a highlight. Equally so is the near-epic seven-minute closer \u201cFields And Fences,\u201d as clear a mission statement and a goodbye as one can make: \u201cI got used to being the star of the show \/ But I’ve seen the lights come and go\u2026I want to start living \/ I want to be brave \/ I want to find where I belong.\u201d The song ends with an elegiac violin solo as the album, and the band, fade away.<\/p>\n
To be sure, those who liked the band from the outset and wish they would keep making Ocean Avenue <\/i>will likely think this a bit too slow, too mature, but Key and the guys know they aren\u2019t 22 anymore. They have said what they needed to say, and now they are saying goodbye, and even if Yellowcard <\/i>isn\u2019t a stone classic or even an easy listen, it\u2019s as good a final statement as any modern band has made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9896],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-44649","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-yellowcard","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44649"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}