ALBUM REVIEW: Self Care – Yours Truly

In the early ten’s, Australian pop-punk was having a map-making moment with bands like TONIGHT ALIVE and TROPHY EYES separating themselves from their British and American counterparts with a sound far more suited to sophisticated forward-thinking alt-rock that was simultaneously introspective and convivial. However, as the decade dealt its final cards, the former had drifted off into synth-pop purgatory and the latter lost in an identity crisis labyrinth of hardcore punk and pop-punk. 

Thankfully, a handful of hearty upstarts have taken it upon themselves to deliver a dose of the defibrillators and a shot of adrenaline to the scene, jumpstarting Australia’s pop-punk moment once again. Whilst the likes of STAND ATLANTIC and BETWEEN YOU AND ME are opting for a more Americanised approach, on their debut album Self Care, YOURS TRULY pick up and dust off the alt-rock-powered arena-sized chorus alchemy TONIGHT ALIVE left behind, painting it in a fresh lick of paint and putting it in the shop window once again.

Self Care, sonically, is gloriously nostalgic to bands of pop punk’s past (TONIGHT ALIVE, WE ARE THE IN CROWD) without falling through the trapdoor of retracing its tropes. Opener Siamese Souls false-start fade into riff-and-roll alt-rock and one of the year’s punkiest power-pop choruses is just one shade of Self Care’s shifting gears, whilst Undersize avoids becoming just another mandatory pop-punk ballad by allowing vocalist Mikaila Delgago to let her heart and soul bleed out across the beauty of the track’s honey-dripped hum-and-strum underbelly. 

Whilst they’ve not exactly evolved since 2019’s Afterglow EP, they’ve absolutely tightened up and found their footing, particularly the interplay between guitarists Teddie Winder-Haron and Lachlan Cronin, who bring their rainbow tie-dye to the tracks. This allows drummer Bradley Cronan to bring percussion to the forefront of this pop-punk opus, letting the rhythm roll through the eardrums. It’s not the only thing that rolls on through throughout Self Care, the album’s ability to flow from song-to-song is a refreshingly-received surprise for a genre famous for disregarding pace in the past. Whether it’s the slick translation from the posi pop punk of Vivid Dream to the gentle acoustic balladry of Undersize and onwards to the arena alt-rock of Ghost; or the way Half Of Me brings you back down to earth beautifully with the painful pitter-patter of the Half Of Me before firing you back up on closer Heartsleeve.

What truly sets Self Care, and by extension YOURS TRULY, is it’s open-book policy as Mikaila Delgago navigates the nuances of dealing with the delicacy of a more-than-messy breakup and the very-real struggles with anxiety and imposter syndrome experienced during the band’s overnight rise as one of Australia’s premier pop punk hopefuls. The fact the band are so willing to wear their hearts on their sleeves lends them the element of authenticity, and the aptitude for being relatable. Authenticity and relatability are often two traits pop-punk leaves behind in favours of the lifestyles of the rich and the famous or college-dorm parties, so it’s refreshingly revitalising to hear positive and negative experiences of mental health at the forefront of Self Care. In an industry all about quick-fire singles and streaming figures, YOURS TRULY thrive by delivering lines that will quite easily take up space as tattoos and social media captions, whilst remaining so powerfully poetic in-song. There’s something immediately intensifying yet instantly gratifying when Mikaila powerfully proclaims “and if you’re wondering, just know that, we were the flame, you burnt us out”. 

Whilst Self Care is the next step on the ladder for YOURS TRULY following their recent EPs, it is not merely a continuation of it, but a fully fleshed-out multi-coloured envisionment of their injection of modern-day pop-punk into a scene which was close to closing its doors. If you were looking for a candidate for pop-punk and alt-rock’s album of the year, you really should look no further then Self Care. 

Rating: 9/10

Self Care is out now via UNFD.

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