Joyce Manor’s
Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired is a short, noisy blast of emo pop that has none of the glitzy trappings of capital “P” emo pop, but instead sounds a bit like how
Weezer might have turned out if they had a recording budget of about ten dollars and never left their parents' basement. Or if
Guided by Voices never discovered beer and instead sat around deconstructing
Hüsker Dü and
Jawbreaker albums all night long. The songs are intensely hooky with tons of emoting packed into a tiny space; Barry Johnson's quavering voice bleeds around the sharp edges and slashing guitars like fat drops of blood. The bulk of the album -- “These Kind of Ice Skates,” “Comfortable Clothes,” “See How Tame I Can Be,” “Violent Inside,” the should-be hit single “Video Killed the Radio Star” that borrows from
the Buggles' song of the same name but does something new and thrilling with it -- is first-rate power pop that ends abruptly, but perfectly, delivering exactly the right amount of emotional jolt. Elsewhere, the jangling “Bride of Usher” has some nicely jangling
Smiths' overtones and the group shows they aren’t afraid to experiment a little, adding some plinky piano to the thrashing “If I Needed You There,” or going completely lo-fi and acoustic on “Drainage” and “I’m Always Tired.” And that’s it. Nine songs. Thirteen minutes. All glory, no boredom. If only more bands knew how to strip their albums down to the bare essentials, and could deliver said essentials with as much abandon and valor as
Joyce Manor does here. ~ Tim Sendra