ALBUM REVIEW: HELLMODE: Jeff Rosenstock
JEFF ROSENSTOCK has had about as decorated a career as one possibly can have after only ever releasing independently: five albums, scoring an animated series and a live album putting a thick reimagined layer of ska on a portion of his existing work. New record HELLMODE teeters between youth-fuelled anxiety that sends a frenetic wave of Rosenstock through all in its path, and fragile clarity to soften his usual boisterous attitude.
Early on HELLMODE feels familiar for Rosenstock with punk forcing its way through to swing the doors open with WILL U STILL U, LIKED U BETTER and HEAD, which over the course feels more and more like sleep deprivation encouraged by a cocktail of pro-plus and Red Bull. What you think of as pure excitement in this record is more like feeling someone else have caffeine jitters and then proceeding to dump all the thoughts in their head all at once. HELLMODE is glorious organised chaos from the get go.
On the other hand you have tracks that produce more of an, at times, exhausted anxiety and are a calmer approach to the very cathartic material that JEFF ROSENSTOCK produces. DOUBT has a bit of an emo streak, revolving around pent up emotions and the second guessing that happens when they’ve been left to cook for too long; FUTURE IS DUMB is the resident ska track with a 90s pop-punk attitude, and is somewhat overly existential but that’s just its charm. The most vulnerable moment of the record is surely HEALMODE; by the name alone it feels like quite the mindful experience, and throughout the delicate ballad Rosenstock himself feels like he could appear stained with nicotine from head to toe and being held together only by tape.
All three tracks are very different but work towards the same goal of balancing out the usual high tense atmosphere by unravelling anxiety somewhat logically rather than letting it spill over the top. One of the simplest yet most remarkable things that the multi-instrumentalist can do is encapsulate a space with the wonderful sounds he makes, like a college dorm; in HELLMODE he does more than just appease that very satisfying act, he expands into gradually figuring out something complicated that can happen in our brains rather than indulging in familiarity and safety. That in itself makes HELLMODE brilliantly inspiring on a creative level.
After almost 20 years being immersed in the music industry JEFF ROSENSTOCK manages to keep his chaotic aesthetic engaging whilst keeping things fresh. Somehow, he’s a lot like an evening country fair, dark and gloomy but illuminated in the most joyful way in all the right places. He proves how essential he and that precedent he sets as an independent artist are even after nearly two decades.
Rating: 8/10
HELLMODE is set for release on September 1st via Specialist Subject Records.
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