Joyce Manor have distilled the sound of watching gentrification happen to your favourite grimy neighbourhood into Californian punk gold. Their sixth album, ‘I Used To Go To This Bar’ drips with nostalgia and lo-fi sincerity, and at around twenty minutes long, it speeds past, offering a grainy window into what’s occupying the minds of Barry Johnson and co.
Every song feels like a fleeting memory in the best possible way. ‘All My Friends Are So Depressed’ floats like an apology read via a long distance phone call; all stream of consciousness urgency, non-sequiturs and dreamlike guitar, and ‘Falling Into It’ is indie nostalgia with shades of grown-up Weezer in its cute, biting flow. The bittersweet title track bounces with anecdotal verve and a joyful, longing chorus, and the frantic ‘The Opossum’ screeches at breakneck speed into the shoutalong ‘Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before?’. There’s so much abstract joy to behold in this record and a whole landscape…
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