ALBUM REVIEW: Is This The Low Point Or The Moment After? – Shoreline
SHORELINE have been cultivating a crowd amongst emo circles for a few years now, but with the release of Is This The Low Point Or The Moment After? they solidify themselves as main players in the scene. If you haven’t been paying attention to them yet, its time you allow SHORELINE to envelope you in their world of a hardcore and pop-punk infused brand of emo that finds melodic infectiousness and emotional output at the forefront.
Worry Count opens the album on a gentle note before drums and guitars burst out into the signature SHORELINE style. The track grows into itself, and the line “I’ve got my mistakes, just like you I can’t stop thinking ‘bout them all” pierces through. Their melodic precision is on full display in the first half of the album, with Brittle Bond continuing this over with bright guitar lines and bouncing bass riffs.
It is on Sweet Spot, however, that they put all of their cards on the table. The track is a burst of energy infused with a pop-punk hook. But, it never strays from the anxiety fuelled lyricism that keeps it from feeling too saccharine. Its an infectiously undeniable force on the album, and an instant classic that will long be an essential in the band’s catalogue.
From the middle of the album, SHORELINE pivot. Energetic pop-punk fuelled hooks shift to grittier riffs. Forgive featuring Joe Taylor (KNUCKLE PUCK) begins this, with Taylor’s vocals adding to the emotional undercurrent, sharply cutting through. But it is on Paradox Man that they fully push the heavier side of their sound. The track channels screamo in the vein of TOUCHÉ AMORÉ, pushing not only a catharsis in the middle of the album, but a genuine sense of release. This carries into Synchonise which balances gentle melodic lines against brutal explosions. In these moments of intensity, emotion is crucial and is what SHORELINE do best.
Coming out of the other side, tracks seem a tad buried beneath the noise. Out Of Touch and Good Times take pop-punk as their main cues again, and these lighter melodies conceptually move you to a new phase of the album, one of clarity after catharsis. But after hearing the heights they can soar to when they let loose you can’t help but want to sink your teeth back into the noise. That being said, late into the album, Youthfully Naive rings out as an undeniable ear worm, and once again a reminder that SHORELINE have perfected the knack of a hook.
As they close the album with Phantom Pain, the contemplative lyricism and peaceful tone consolidates the journey they’ve taken you on. Emotional threads are sharply woven throughout and it is this keen eye on emotion that finds SHORELINE authentically pulling their influences and sounds together.
Traversing both the low point and the moment after, SHORELINE move through the process of breakdown, catharsis, and clarity. They can write one hell of a hook, but it is in the weirder, more unrelenting moments of noise and expression that SHORELINE excel on Is This The Low Point Or The Moment After? and keep you wanting more.
Rating: 8/10
Is This The Low Point Or The Moment After? is set for release on March 13th via Pure Noise Records.
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