Tearjerker make shoegaze for outdoorsy types, which could also be defined as "chillwave." Their new LP Stay Wild adheres to the latter's sonic specs, blurring all edges and smearing all lenses, everything is fed through the same sun-dazed, saturated prism. But Tearjerker remains a rock band, just one that works up a slow, steady sweat. "The Gardiner" lets bass guitar and singer Micah Bonte's vocals compete as lead, like a woozier You Forgot It In People cut, and the title track takes on the wooly kraut of Wooden Shjips. While the sentiments of "Stay Wild" ("When we have bills and little children/ We won't change/ We'll stay wild") may invoke Japandroids’ "live fast, live forever" M.O., Tearjerker never come close to embodying it.
Even if you believe Bonte's assertion on "Perfect" that, "Summer is the shortest season/ It's up to you and me to give it meaning," individual days tend to feel long and languid and listless. This much comes across in the way Stay Wild fixates on a single, simple situation that can stretch out infinitely. "Phone" is exactly what it sets out to be, a jilted complaint about the obvious irony of an iPhone being used for everything except its primary purpose: "Is it too much for you to pick it up/ When we both know you never put it down?" Bonte allows himself the luxury of dejection worth wallowing in, but these down moments allow for a bounce-back.
On Stay Wild’s more spirited tracks, Bonte give voice to the emotions hinted at by "You Can", a striking single from last year’s Hiding EP. "You Can" had almost nothing in the way of intelligible lyrics, though it certainly sounded like drunken memories of either a rave or a massive sporting event. Something major definitely happened. Little on Stay Wild brings to mind that song's blissful levitation—the album as a whole is more grounded. Still, it holds true to Bonte’s request on "Perfect": the record isn’t likely to inspire the action itself, but rather the subsequent reflection that gave it meaning.
