You'll Be Fine

hagfromthebog

jacobojm

By 2016, Modern Baseball (MOBO) had broken up, Blink-182 was washed, and bands like Mom Jeans and Hot Mulligan were just getting started. It felt like the mid-west emo (MOBO, Frontbottoms) and pop punk (Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, etc) that fueled the late 2000s and early 2010’s went underground or gave way (sold out) to more pop-friendly sounds. Little did I know that Hot Mulligan was perfecting its craft to bring mid-west emo into a new decade. I’ll admit, I was unfamiliar with their game and missed their debut album Pilot in 2018, so when my ears first heard you’ll be fine I was ready to claim that the genre was back on top. Hot Mully brings in the best of the genre, with funny nonsensical track titles that don’t take themselves too seriously (ala Blink-182), brain scratching guitar rifts, self-loathing lyrics (hello MOBO), and huge chorus breaks that took me back to my Mayday Parade phase. All I could, and in some ways still, think is that this album would have killed in the Warp Tour era and that I wish I had some of these lyrics to post on Facebook and Tumblr throughout high school. And while my angsty days never truly went away, it felt good to have some fresh representation in music. It isn’t all fun and angst, as some of the lyrics find new meaning as I enter my 30s. Grappling with loss of friends and guilt over relationships that just fizzled out. I chose to listen to the album on vinyl as the way to do my review. Side A ends with Dirty Office Bongos and the lyrics “my thoughts feel like static, you’re gone and I wasn’t there” hanging for you to sit with as you get up to flip the record. Side B starts with a similar reflection as Analog Fade grapples with the feeling of being static while your friends and life move on without you. Ouch. But perfect for the time in which it first graced my ears - finishing up grad school at the same place I did my undergrad while the rest of my friends moved on. The album takes some risk, and switches things up sonically in some places, SPS being one of those with a bit more pop-punk leaning instrumentation. And then the album ends as abruptly as it began with The Song Formerly Known as Intro. Which works as a re-introduction to the genre for me as this album comes to a close. So yes, a solid 7.7 in my eyes. Always worth checking out, keeping my attention throughout its runtime, and a testament to a genre that felt like its best days were behind it. Favorite Tracks: SPS Dirty Office Bongos Green Squirrel in Pretty Bad Shape “Equip Sunglasses”

vampiresquid

birdorcages

Sick pop punk for a modern age. I love the spirit of naming tracks after whatever.