UTP Album Reviews: Daytrader's Twelve Years and Hot Water Music's Exister

Wow. It has been a long time since I've written any sort of album reviews, hasn't it. Admittedly this was partially due to getting busy, then getting out of the habit, and finally I will blame a chunk of it on the later winter/early spring always being a little slow when it comes to album releases. Also, I got into writing sonnets that summarize news about the Nashville Predators. That kind of became a thing. Today I bring you a pair of reviews for new albums from emo punks Daytrader and the venerable Hot Water Music. And later this week UTP contributor Shane Bua should be posting a review of The Dopamines' delightful Vices, so look for that as well.

Daytrader - Twelve Years

I wasn’t familiar with Daytrader’s previous work and so going into the review process I no preconceived expectations. Twelve Years is an album that demands two listens. The first listen is just to understand what you are going to hear through the about 37 minute run time. The second listen is really the digestion of what Daytrader is doing. To paint with broad strokes, Twelve Years is classic emo in the vein of Sunny Day Real Estate sprinkled with some post-hardcore leanings. The band really enjoys their emotional trudge through the lyrics, but the band’s musical abilities really shine when they pick things up and move into a poppy, punk sound. Really those two elements of balance within songs and between tracks create a cohesion that only benefits the album. The entire thing is lush and precise with layered guitars and vocals. To be super general, the lyrics are thoroughly nice and thoughtful. With at least one foot firmly planted in the emo genre the lyrics tend to be on the downer side of things, although they are propped up with some positivity. Combined with the sometimes upbeat vocal delivery you don’t have to be worried about getting caught in any sadness spiral. This is especially true since there is a definite air of maturity around the songs and there are often very nice things being said. In the end the album did stand out to me more on my second thorough listen, but I can’t see it becoming a part of my regular rotation. By the time I had reached the eighth and ninth track I’d had enough, but the closing track “Letter From a Former Lover” was a refreshing way to go out. While Daytrader might not be my thing, they did create a very nice record in Twelve Years.

Hot Water Music - Exister

When band doesn’t produce new music for north of seven years fans like to speculate about the substance of the end product. Will the album be a rehashing of previous work? Will it be something tired and progressive in a pushing-40 sort of folk friendly way? But there is no need for speculation when the album has been released and everyone can listen to it, so that is unsurprisingly what I have done. If you wipe away all the nostalgia, the majority of this album is pretty standard. There is certainly energy in the music and vocals, but that energy often failed to excite me. This may come from the fact hat song of the songs are more emotionally than lyrically compelling. Many times I would try and delve deeper into the songs, but it was more like running into a well-hung piece of drywall. The lyrics are at their best when they are telling stories or are clear about their purpose. Tracks like “Take No Prisoners” and “Pledge Wore Thin” stand more partially because of the strength of the lyrical content. A second factor that makes the previous songs top notch is that the music, especially the rhythm sections, are given more freedom to be wonderful. The benefits of the musical freedom are no more apparent than on the awesome “Drag My Body” which contains all of Exister’s potential on the one track. Despite the stand out tracks most of the album it consists of well-tread punk rock fare. The whole album did make me wish for a HWM/Lucero tour since I think an Exister heavy set would be a great lead in for Lucero to do their thing.

I’m going to go ahead and say that if and when Exister appears high on Best Albums lists, the nostalgia effect will be in full swing.