Release Date: May 21, 2013
These days, the term “folk” is being thrown around for anything that involves an acoustic guitar. So when The Front Bottoms gets tagged as “folk-punk,” as oxymoronic as it sounds, it fits. The two-piece out of New Jersey matches punk riffed out on acoustic guitars with savvy leads on everything from a classically folk accordion to modern tinged synth lines. The attentive songwriting done by Brian Sella is certainly appetizing, but Talon of the Hawk dries up in repetitiveness when The Front Bottoms’ simplicity leaves so much room for expansion.
The opening track, “Au Revoir,” sets a precedent for Talon of the Hawk. In the simple beginning, Sella plays his acoustic like a bass guitar and sings about miscommunication with his ex-lover. He then blasts in heavier, singing, “Rock and roll, rock and roll,” reaching for recognition in a world of punks that need something “rocking” to latch to. This structure gets copied and pasted onto most of Talon of the Hawk, and, truly, younger crowds can’t get enough of this.
Tracks like “Twin Size Mattress” are a teenage dream. Cutesy lyrics like, “Be sure to kiss your knuckle before you punch me in the face,” and, “They cut your hair and sent you away/with tears in my eyes I begged you to stay,” are draped around ultra-catchy riffs that are made to stick in the heads of any college freshman looking for a rebellious-but-relatable fix. All of Talon of the Hawk is filled with lyrics that mix the tough with the loving, in a completely pre-packaged way.
At the beginning of “I Swear To God The Devil Made Me Do It,” a chunk of swelling and fluctuating buzzes warps for 10 seconds before the song starts and Sella sings, “Space age crystals, I’ve been growing them since I was a kid.” Those 10 seconds are the only exciting and experimental moment on Talon of the Hawk.
Inversely, the whole album is completely accessible to anyone who gravitates to compact, high energy songs with a pop sensibility, or fans of folk-punk who are looking for something middle-of-the-road to cleanse the palette. The Front Bottoms blend memorable hooks over acoustic riffs that Sella cranks out song in, song out, and if this is your style then Talon of the Hawk is your album.
This recent rise of folk music has brought a certain silly thing to the lime-light: the participatory exclamation! This is often a “HEY,” an “OH,” or “HO,” placed in a rest during a powerful moment. The Front Bottoms used the oh-so-original trick on “Santa Monica,” showing the group has more than just a knack for the appealing; it has a gift for the catchy.
Sella is a great songwriter and his drumming counterpart, Matthew Uychich, feels every movement and guides the songs in the one direction they can go. This expectable sound isn’t aided by repetitious lyrical themes alongside basic song structures. On the final track, “Everything I Own,” Sella belts out, “Sometimes I don’t feel like singing, I don’t really like these songs,” one can understand why Sella might get worn out on his own music—some of us are getting worn out after the first listen.
The Front Bottoms – Talon of the Hawk tracklist:
- “Au Revoir”
- “Skeleton”
- “I Swear TO God The Devil Made Me Do It”
- “Twin Sized Mattress”
- “Peach”
- “Santa Monica”
- “The Feud”
- “Funny You Should Ask”
- “Tattooed Tears”
- “Lone Star”
- “Back Flip”
- “Everything I Own”
