Everyone Everywhere
Everyone Everywhere


4.5
superb

Review

by zen5729 USER (12 Reviews)
July 18th, 2010 | 31 replies


Release Date: 2010 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Everyone Everywhere take us back to a time when nothing felt good, but at least we felt something.

Standing out on my second-floor balcony and looking out onto the street, I have a view that's probably similar to what most of this review's readers have outside of their own homes, a most unassuming and unremarkable suburban setting. Watching two teens pass by, one carrying a lacrosse stick, the other walking a dog, I can't help but to imagine the emo bands of the mid-to-late '90s sprouting out of neighborhoods just like this one. When kids, for the most part, "have it good"-- that is, the lower tiers of Maslow's hierarchy of needs can pretty much be taken for granted-- what's left to write about but less primal desires like relationships and acceptance? From The Get Up Kids' playful insistence that we not hate them on Four Minute Mile to Mineral's more tortured anguish on The Power of Failing, the music might sound almost spoiled and juvenile to the jaded adult, but they paint a perfect picture of what it's like growing up in middle America.

While bands like The National are most relatable to my world-weary 28-year-old mind now, it's great to hear new bands like Everyone Everywhere carrying the torch lit by bands like The Promise Ring into the second decade of the 21st Century. It's rare for a new album to evoke feelings of nostalgia, but Everyone Everywhere takes me back to a time before apathy was something I understood, before I grew up and in the process forgot what it's like to feel intensely about mostly everything.

Like anything so clearly indebted to the past, it would be easy for the cynical critic to label Everyone Everywhere as completely derivative, and it would be hard to argue against that assertion. As the album opens with "Tiny Planet", the noodling guitars carry definite shades of Braid, those moody bass lines sound like something off Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary, and Brendan McHugh's vocals are as earnest-sounding as Davey Von Bohlen. But like Newton and Leibnitz independently developing the Calculus, maybe there's really just a best way to go about expressing something. The feeling is so inherent in Everyone Everywhere's guitars and the music in general that words really aren't even necessary. But in that respect, Nothing Feels Good already achieved perfection, so why mess with that formula too much?

Of course, like any record, Everyone Everywhere is still a product of its time. Despite the time-tested statements of teenage disaffection in "Blown Up Grown Up" ("Kind of don't care about all these people, kind of don't want to be there"), McHugh alludes to more modern marvels ("They won't use Mapquest, and I don't think that they have GPS"). On "Fld Ovr", his alienation is a byproduct of, among other things, modern methods of communication ("Spelling words without vowels, calling people on the phone is out now").

The album unquestionably wears its influences prominently on its sleeve, but the pedigree is outstanding and the execution is astounding. If Everyone Everywhere were released in the later '90s, we'd be touting it as an all-time classic today. Maybe you could say that now, it's just behind the times, trying to revive something that by-and-large died some time ago. If you can bring yourself to dislike this infinitely charming record on those grounds, well, more power to you. Me, I'll be out on that balcony, headphones firmly in place, giving it yet another spin, trying not to wonder where all the time went.



Recent reviews by this author
Rival Schools PedalsHome Video The Automatic Process
Wild Orchid Children The Wild Orchid Children Are Alexander SupertrampCrooked Mountain, Crooked Sea I Watched It From the Roadside
Kings of Leon Come Around SundownFrontier(s) There Will Be No Miracles Here
user ratings (120)
3.9
excellent

Comments:Add a Comment 
SeaAnemone
July 18th 2010


21429 Comments


weird... I just heard this yesterday in a whim... not sure I can vouch for it being THIS great though

SlightlyEpic
July 18th 2010


5810 Comments


yeah i mean it's the same old

zen5729
July 18th 2010


16 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Without a doubt, if you're looking for a band that brings something totally new to the table, this is one you definitely want to pass over. Maybe that in itself makes it unworthy of the score. It's an obvious pastiche, but really, so are many great albums (e.g. The '59 Sound). The songs are great and well-executed and I felt an instant connection with it, and that in the end was enough for me.

SlightlyEpic
July 18th 2010


5810 Comments


I suppose so, I just have trouble really get into it when my only thought is "oh hey, haven't I heard this before?"

Don't get me wrong though, I still like it, just not nearly to the extent that you do.

This is however a fantastic review, so pos'd.

SeaAnemone
July 18th 2010


21429 Comments


awesome review, though, and yeah I get what you're saying. props for liking Hey Mercedes, too

ziroth
July 18th 2010


1260 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

cool album/review. i agree totally with slightly. pos

Zizzer
July 18th 2010


915 Comments


Yeah and release date.

ctmarshall
July 31st 2010


2 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm in love with this album. I don't really understand the whole "it's unoriginal" argument. I didn't know music had to break new ground to be considered great. It's called growth. The band wants to perfect their sound. Nothing bad about it.

crazyblinddude
September 11th 2010


3388 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Love this. User above me makes a good point though.

Eko
August 4th 2011


2118 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

The lyrics on this are awesome

Blackbelt54
August 4th 2011


4281 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

the lyrics are my favorite part of the album

Eko
August 4th 2011


2118 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I was thinking 3 but now I'm thinking 3.5/4

Blackbelt54
August 4th 2011


4281 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

the music bores me a little too much and I don't like his voice

scissorlocked
October 10th 2011


3538 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

has good lyrics

pmmets07
February 21st 2012


5984 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

lol at the bad pop punk band with the same name

AlecBaldwin
February 23rd 2012


152 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I've got bigger fish to fry

Monheim
February 1st 2013


253 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

album gives me the warm fuzzies

dimsim3478
December 2nd 2013


8987 Comments


HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY I GOT BIGGER FISH TO FRY

THEY'RE SWORDFISH SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZED

Conmaniac
October 22nd 2016


27704 Comments


good stuff here. very mineral-esque

Snake.
October 22nd 2016


25376 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

wut



You have to be logged in to post a comment. Login | Create a Profile





STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS // CONTACT US

Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Site Copyright 2005-2023 Sputnikmusic.com
All Album Reviews Displayed With Permission of Authors | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy