Saturday, April 4, 2015

Album Review: Future Hearts

Liv Slaby , , , , , , ,
BY LIV SLABY



 I think I’ve found a new soundtrack to my adolescence. In a collection of songs that all seem meant to be played while driving late at night with the windows down, All Time Low recaptures a youthful sound in their sixth album, "Future Hearts".
 
The choruses are catchy and the lyrics are descriptive and poetic. The standout tracks really stand out: "Kids In The Dark", "Cinderblock Garden", "Runaways", and "Missing You" are all teen anthems that I find myself belting out while walking around my house. A few tracks fall a bit short, but overall, it's a great effort and a success.

The album opens with "Satellite", a gentler song which lends a bittersweet tone to the album (and I'm a sucker for bittersweet).  "Kicking and Screaming" is next, a typical upbeat All Time Low song that you could definitely play while dancing in your room. The third track is the album's debut single, "Something's Gotta Give", which keeps you singing along but definitely isn't the best song on the album. The next single, "Kids In The Dark" is a well-written anthem that rallies fans together in defiance of their struggles. "Runaways" does the same and it's clear there is no shortage of anthems on this album.

 "Missing You" is my personal favorite song on the album, a sweet acoustic song that reminds listeners to never give up their fight. Next is "Cinderblock Garden", a song with poetic lyrics that functions just as well as an acoustic. The two songs with featured vocalists on the album are "Tidal Waves" with Mark Hoppus and "Bail Me Out" with Joel Madden. All Time Low comes full circle by collaborating with the artists they used to admire and cover as teenagers.

 Sandwiched between those two tracks is "Don't You Go", which starts with a sound reminiscent of 2000s pop punk and transforms into a something that could fit right in on a 5 Seconds of Summer album. "Dancing With A Wolf" and "The Edge of Tonight" don't immediately hit it home for me, but I'll give it a little time. In the words of Fall Out Boy, "the songs you grow to like never stick at first". The first of the two adds a splash of rock to an otherwise pop album. 

 The final track, "Old Scars (Future Hearts)" concludes the album with a sound that is clearly All Time Low. This is definitely an album written for the kids. "Future Hearts" isn't anything radically different for All Time Low, but it is a huge step up from any of their previous albums lyrically and musically.


 You can listen to "Future Hearts" here, but make sure to buy it when it comes out on April 7!


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