I’m here to share my thoughts on the second album from Old Currents, The Glory, The Defeat. This is an album that, while not their strongest to me in melodic terms, I honest to goodness fell in love with lyrically. I think that for the right genre’s fanbase this album will be a grower for people. This is truly a perfect storm between clean-cut instrumental work and lyrical depth. When I first became a fan of music in general, I needed to audibly hear the lyrics, and I think Old Currents will be the gateway band for those first-time listeners as well!
Track 1 – “Here, You Throw This Away”
This track opens up with an upbeat tempo which is ideal for the album’s title that sounds victorious. The consistency of being upbeat and still maintaining a serious message is nothing short of downright astonishing for me as a fan. The song’s title to me emulates how the singer hates that his heart is being thrown away. My word to describe the tone of this song would be “Relatable.”
Track 2 – “No Signs Of Life”
This is a song that sounds more emotional, narrating back to when he and the female character broke up and she left. When you are in the pain of that position you feel like you are drowning alive. I seriously think that the band’s fan base is going to gravitate to this song and am surprised that they didn’t make this the first single for the album. My word for this track would more than likely be “Reflective.”
Track 3 – “The Lucky Ones”
Right off the bat, this track opens up as anthemic with vocals only. The lyrics speak of dreaming that he could escape the memories that he’s trapped in and it is hard when you are mentally imprisoned by memories that you have. This track hit me like a ton of bricks because I have been there before myself. My word for this song is “Impassioned.”
Track 4 – “The Glory”
This is a track that speaks of a desire for peace during the chaos. The lyrics “Some things dark are better left unsaid”, “If you’re happy now then I know it’s for the best”, and “We’ll revel in the Glory and Defeat”, came through to me like a tsunami because when we talk about how people make us feel, we take their responses back to us personally. My word for this track is “Poetic.”
PHOTOSENSITIVITY WARNING (at end of video)
Track 5 – “This Old House”
Lyrically, the vocalist is talking about making his house into a home with the woman that he’s narrating about. The landscape of this song is something to drive home for a lot of people because it makes you long for a connection in that way where you feel as if you're floating on air. My word for this is “Emotional.”
Track 6 – “Liquor, I Barely Know Her”
Talk about making it snappy and a get-up and rock tune! This is something that is making me warm up to the whole album as their vocalist is speaking about how liquor is making his relationship with the female character incredibly difficult. You are talking about something and don’t know that the other person is too drunk to even listen coherently which will cause you, the sober one, to walk out. My word for this is “Abrupt.”
Track 7 – “Asbury, Please”
Now this song is genuinely upbeat, but it still speaks of an understanding that you are in a state of wonder. You wonder where you are going, who you are, where you were from, and everything. It is a huge scare to feel both apart and yet together at the same time. For the first time, we hear a harmonica in the full band playthrough right after the guitar solo. My word for this song is “Chaotic.”
Track 8 – “So You Don’t Forget”
This track comes out with literal claws, it is incredibly anthemic! The track talks about how much of a difference music makes when it comes to what it personally means to fans. Every song has a memorable event attached to the fans in one way or another. Music is our therapy, our escape, our literal haven, and for me, music is the only thing that I live for. Meeting the artists, meeting the fellow fans at shows, all mean the world to me. Those songs are so that you don’t forget about what happened when it comes to those events. My word to describe this song is “Universal.”
Track 9 – “Press Play”
This song is multi-layered from the very beginning and the vocalist is aching when trying to tell his woman to continue listening to what he believes is a significant song on that certain station. At the end of this song, it goes into straight drive mode with the full band firing on all cylinders. My word for this song is “Desperate.”
Track 10 – “In Our Own Time”
This track is talking about them trying to fight for their own time against other people’s schedules and I can relate to this. There have been one too many times where I have wanted to get out of where I am at because I’m overwhelmed by living with others right now and just want to focus on myself and my schedule. My word for this song is “Soulful.”
Track 11 – “The Defeat”
Okay, now this track is going to slap people’s heads off of their shoulders because it is so emotionally heavy. If you imagine a soldier in the military in tears over his best friend dying in battle and having a memorial for him with the rest of their crew, you will start to cry. This song hit me like a ton of bricks because I have a lot of military relatives who have passed away. The soldier is talking about when his friend was alive until the walls came crashing down on him during a major battle. My word for this song is “Symphonic.”
Track 12 – “A Few Good Men”
Their vocalist is talking about the way how the better species of men stick together which needs to be true. It celebrates the strength of numbers when it comes to teamwork. My word for a proper description of this track is “Anthemic.”
Overall, I rate The Glory, The Defeat three out of five stars. While I was not so sure about this album on the first listen-through, I do think that they have the potential to grow if they can keep up with the same tone in tracks 11 and 12 on the next one. I do think that with time since they only started in 2017, they will be on their way to a major growth spurt because there were a few things I heard in their sound that made me think they had serious potential. The album made its debut yesterday, April 22nd, and is now out on all streaming platforms. If this is your first time listening to pop-punk, then get this album and watch them grow!
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