September 15, 2015 -

Both a continuation and a deviation from the band’s established sound, Back On Top sees The Front Bottoms offer up plenty of familiarity with a great big helping of refreshing ingenuity. Due for release on September 18th and their first for Fueled By Ramen, Back On Top features all of the catchy indie pop synonymous with the band’s previous releases, while also experimenting with bigger rock sounds and a variety of other musical themes. After a brief choral harmony, the album opens swinging with the rock fuelled number that is Motorcycle. From Ciaran O’Donnell’s exquisite guitar work to the ethereal sound of the choir, Brian Sella’s ever punchy vocals kick off another surreal take on the world as a twenty something. One of the aforementioned deviations from the band’s usual sound can be found in Cough It Out, which sees the band taking a melodic approach to songwriting. With Mat Uychich taking a break from his usual hammering of the drums and Brian Sella’s surprising dose of melodyladen vocals, the overall effect is a more restrained approach that The Front Bottoms have scarcely shown in the past. The band perfectly blend this more melodic approach with elements of their usual sound in the album’s lead single, HELP. Here is evidence that the band have worked hard to both evolve without abandoning the sound they have been perfecting over four previous albums. In stark comparison, the band delve into darker lyrical themes in Historic Cemetery, and even call in Jersey rapper GDP to add some gravitas to the dark lyrical themes delivered by a sombre Brian Sella. There is a return to a more familiar sound in Ginger, with a welcome return to Uychich’s maniacal drumming, the track builds up from some catchy guitar and keyboards resulting in a climax of the much-loved horns that are a staple of any release from The Front Bottoms. The record delivers some more big rock sounds on another of the album’s singles, West Virginia, with the band exploding into an explosion ofnoise as Sella quite rightly declares, “Right now I’m just a volcano/On the brink of eruption“. As is expected with the band, there’s always room for a little measure of the surreal, as the album is drawn to a close with Plastic Flowers, with Sella being backed by a gospel choir in a chorus in which he invites everybody to join in with the singing. With Back On Top, The Front Bottoms not only refine the sound of 2013’s Talon Of The Hawk, but they deliver a record which is an evolution of the four piece both musically and lyrically. As with their previous work, Brian Sella’s lyrics detail a range of experiences and situations and this release in no exception. One major theme of the album is time (whether it be the past, present or future) and that can be found in the way that the band’s approach to songwriting has a new sense of maturity and restraint. Back On Top is almost certain to give existing fans of The Front Bottoms a record to be cherished while delivering a collection of punktinged indie pop that will undoubtedly add new recruits to a rapidly growing fan base. || Review by Dale Platt