Review Summary: A mild record that promises more to come.
The Backseat Lovers are a tiny band from Provo, Utah whose career was kickstarted when they won a Battle of the Bands competition at a hometown venue. Soon after, they self-released a five-song EP online in June 2018 that garnered nearly no attention. Purportedly unfazed, they released their debut album, When We Were Friends in early 2019. Their songwriting had noticeably improved from their first release, but it seemed that this release would go ignored by the general public as well, until “Kilby Girl” became a mega-hit, largely through TikTok. Their debut barely managed to crack the Billboard 200, at number 199.
Luckily, commercial success isn’t all there is to music. The Backseat Lovers succeed at making perfectly quaint indie rock. To put it bluntly, this release does not break new ground. It is fun, and that’s about it. The hooks are catchy, the singing is fantastic, and the lyrics are just above what you would expect from a hometown, grassroots rock band. There is no virtuosic anything here. Yet, somehow, it is more than the sum of its parts. Despite being released in January, this summery album bathes you in the warm Utah sun and regales you with tales of adolescence. The album has no proper structure, clearly the work of a young band, especially apparent with the whiplash of acoustic tearjerker “Olivia” followed by the crunchy “Sinking Ship.” Both songs are good in their own right, but when placed next to each other, they each mitigate the effect of the other.
Essentially, this debut displays potential. It’s often described as vibey, a term easily written off as a shallow Gen Z cliche that says nothing, but there’s a reason it seems to be everywhere about this release. When We Were Friends is an atmospheric experience, a nugget that tastes like sunny, carefree days spent getting into trouble.
