Many parts of the band’s fourth album feel like a summer road trip drive without all the memories.
Letting Up Despite Great Faults makes the listener feel like they were on a road trip with all their friends crammed into one car. All the bright production elements on several of the tracks make this album feel more critical than it is. That’s not to say it’s a bad record, but once this album ends, it just leaves my brain. IV has excellent production. Yet, that memorability factor isn’t here for me. As I said, there are two tracks I would like to point out, those being Corners Pressed and Gorgeous. If it were made today, the former sounds like it would fit perfectly on a montage in a coming-of-age film, something like The Breakfast Club. The latter just sounds pleasant with its driving guitar and steady drum beat. However, that’s as much mileage as I get from this album.
On tracks like Gemini, Trumble, and Curl, it’s hard to distinguish what makes these tracks stand out from each other. They all start with heavy synthesizers and blossom into these warm guitar passages with the frontman singing at a monotone volume. Yet, while this record is playing, I enjoy the songs. The summer road trip analogy wasn’t just to compare something; this record brings a fun, bright energy to the instrumentation, and how this album sounds will fit right in next to The Beach Boys or Weezer.
The issues with this record are that many of the tracks feel the same. This is the album for you if you are someone who just wants a consistent indie-pop record with touches of shoegaze thrown into the mix. While I may find this album forgettable and otherwise weak compared to other albums in this sub-genre, I enjoyed it while it was playing.
Favorite Tracks: Corners Pressed and Gorgeous
Rating: 5/10
