Although admired by a variety of emo and indie rockers, Algernon Cadwallader initially thought-about themselves an off-kilter punk band, and so they totally embrace that identification on Making an attempt To not Have a Thought. It’s their densest and loudest album, even when every member sounds extra managed on the entire. From the gnarled rock propelling “Shameless Faces (even the man who made the factor was a chunk of shit)” to the clever, ketamine-fueled post-punk of “noitanitsarcorP,” all 4 members sound energized, centered, and impressed by one another’s concepts. “There is no such thing as a ‘I’ in Algernon,” Helmis yells with reduction on the title monitor. It’s a testomony to the band members’ tight bond and the way their reside reveals permit the general public to share in it.
Within the band’s first run, Algernon Cadwallader have been typically criticized for being too in thrall to their influences: Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owls. However even that meant bullet bounces like a rubber band within the emo scene, the place the Kinsellas are commemorated like saints and concurrently acknowledged for the way they’ve continued to evolve as musicians over time. Algernon want to try the identical, and the event of Helmis’ vocal ways on “What’s Mine” alone warrants the reunion album: He mumble-speaks like Phil Elverum, switches to pining lengthy notes, and lets melodic hiccups accent his transition from scream-yodel to full-on yell. In the meantime, Tazza continues the custom of Analphabetapolothology’s childlike percussive loafing by casting a prism of pastel textures over “Koyaanisqatsi” with triangle, shakers, and diaphanous drum patterns.
Reinhart, who additionally combined the album, trains the highlight on the exact jabs of a buttoned-up fencing match with Mahony, his co-guitarist. The 2 dance round each other in equal quantity, gentle on their toes, with intricate finger-tapping and rhythmic interaction that cherry-picks from Midwest emo, bluegrass, jazz, and fingerstyle guitar. In “You’ve At all times Been Right here,” atop Tazza’s regular beat and Helmis’ bassline, Reinhart and Mahony ramp up till their two guitars sound like 4, then six. The intentional frenzy of Algernon Cadwallader’s previous work is refined into contemplative passages (“What’s Mine”) and sugary Pop Rocks explosions (“World of Distinction”) that elevate your coronary heart price with out mandating participation within the mosh pit. Tempting as it’s to credit score that melodic punk push as being solely Reinhart’s handiwork—he’s the band’s not-so-secret weapon, a producer for Seashore Bunny and Trendy Baseball—a more in-depth ear takes discover of the essential decisions Mahony makes in every of his complementary guitar components.
By ready to return to the drafting board, Algernon Cadwallader constructed Making an attempt To not Have a Thought on their very own time and in their very own means. The temper is grateful and reflective, but it surely doesn’t boring their unruly model. The title monitor, the album’s centerpiece, introduces an easy, freewheeling hook that drips with bittersweet nostalgia as Helmis belts mouthfuls like, “I’m attempting to not get caught within the backwash of a man-made world constructed by bloodsucking motherfuckers in an anti-social coliseum.” He’s having enjoyable, however he’s not placing on blinders for the sake of time. “Hawk” opens the album by grieving a highschool good friend: Helmis remembers roughhousing and taking part in with pocket knives collectively, by no means imagining they’d run out of time. “Just a few of your favourite garments out of your highschool wardrobe/Are the closest factor to having you again,” he sings. His bandmates know precisely easy methods to brighten pockets of the tune to match Helmis’ elegy: “After we had the possibility/We did it proper.”