FIDLAR – Too (Mom+Pop; 2015)
FIDLAR want you to listen to this album now, because soon you’ll grow up, and you’ll sober up, and then life’ll suck. These SoCal punks have some deeper issues jutting out from their lyrics. Under the raw scream-along hooks and the crunchy guitars mixed into every corner, singer Zac Carper howls about chronic loneliness on “40 oz. On Repeat” and his and friends’ glorified debaucherous youth on “West Coast.” Too was released almost three years after FIDLAR’s self-titled firecracker album. By now, all the kids who originally tore up the walls of the band’s sold-out shows are inching closer to adulthood, and so is the band. Too explores all the angles of early-twenties nihilism and tries to sweat it out on songs like “Why Generation” and “Drone,” which is probably alluding to the perception that nine-to-fivers are robotic droids. Despite the odd interludes, like when Carper whines about a failed relationship, Too sounds like it’s tearing through the lining in your ears, especially on the first three golden songs. The album’s just another dispenser for FIDLAR to share their wisdom about how to live life, because Fuck it, Dog. Life’s a Risk.
Trial track: “The Punks are Finally Taking Acid”
Rating: 9/10
