Trainwreck Boyfriend – Trainwreck Boyfriend

Trainwreck Boyfriend – Trainwreck Boyfriend – Album Review

Trainwreck Boyfriend.  Indeed.  Is there any other kind?

Every so often, you stumble across one of these awesome lists of influences and you can’t help but seriously hope you’re about to be on the solid ground you think you’ll be on.  Trainwreck Boyfriend lists names like The Beths, Veruca Salt, and the Cure amongst others…which are all names that basically live on my playlists.  Plus they’re from Philadelphia, which is like…that’s where Erin Fox and Resilient come from ain’t it?  That’s one of my favorite indie artists/bands from this past decade…sooooo…yeah…I figure I’ll just start out playing this self-titled record with the volume on ten cause all signs point to damn good things.  As “Freakshow” started up the album with what basically sounded like a combination of The Beths-meets-Nina Gordon…I felt like confirmation came real quick – yes, I’m gonna like this…a lot.  Plus you add in those keyboards, which essentially sound like something outta the happier side of the Cure’s sound…what can I say?  I’m pleased to report the band is as they’ve advertised.  Plus, those drum sounds!  Frantz is kicking some serious ass back there from the throne, supplying a huge metronomic boom.  As to whether or not Greta Madeline is making an extra effort to resemble Gordon’s vocals from Veruca Salt (or more accurately, the vocal sound you’d find on her solo stuff), I don’t know – but I’m always happy to take more of a good thing whenever I can get it.  She sounds great – this whole six piece band sounds dialed right in, and the first impression of Trainwreck Boyfriend is a genuinely exciting one.

Where you’ll hear even more of a Cure-esque sound is on “Apartment Life” right afterwards…I will never tire of the way this song starts, that much I can tell ya.  Between the bass and guitars on this tune, I am loving everything I hear.  As for the song itself, it’ll go on to find impressive ways to separate itself from any of the listed influences and have Trainwreck Boyfriend doin’ their own thing more or less…you’ll still hear their influences pop up at points along the way, but the whole structure and melodies in the many twists and turns of the design of “Apartment Life” really do stand out as their own.  The main hook in this track though, is undeniably found in the lead guitar – anyone telling you anything else is just lying to ya.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many great things to be found in a track like “Apartment Life,” but it’s that guitar line that keeps me coming back time after time.  As to which of their THREE guitar players, Billy Hook, Dezmond Finley, or Kristin Leland is responsible for what we’re hearing in that hook, I do not know…but they do, and they can rest assured that I think whomever is doin’ that sounds absolutely stunning.  I can’t get over what a dead ringer for Nina Gordon that Greta is when she sings…and man, I’m like, so damn happy about that.  I was, and still am, a Veruca Salt fan, yes – but I still spin Nina’s solo album Tonight And The Rest Of My Life like it’s STILL “2003” (iykyk), and to hear anyone that would remind me of one of my all-time favorite voices is certainly welcome.  Overall though, I gotta say, the artistic depth & ambitious nature of a song like “Apartment Life” speaks volumes on behalf of something really special happening in this Philly-based band.  This isn’t the kind of music that’s going to burn out quickly.  I know that for as much as I already like “Apartment Life,” I’ll love it even more years from now.

Like, no joke, if I had my eyes closed and you told me that it WAS Nina singing on “Feels Like Summer,” I would have absolutely believed you.  I might have had a couple points along the way where I might have wondered if it was Emily Haines of Metric along the way perhaps…especially when this track finds its most energetic gears, but hey, that’s also amazing company to be compared to.  The consistency of this band is nothing short of remarkable though – I’m absolutely loving everything I hear, and I know that’s not likely to change based on what I’ve already found three songs into this album.  Having said that, as I’ll remind you from time to time, I’m often the exception and not the rule – there’s still room for this band to evolve and grow in what they do.  Right now, I’m hearing a highly accessible energy and sound that I know I personally connect with, but at the same time, I can acknowledge they’ve got plenty of space to broaden out their potential through more universally appealing hooks.  As in, right now, they’re almost SO CONSISTENT that it’s tougher to really hear those pieces of a specific song that’ll bring you back for that part you love so much, and it’s more like a case of just liking everything on an even keel.  There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but the effect is that you’ll likely have a much better chance of remembering the band as a whole, much more than you would for a specific song by name – make sense?  For new listeners, that can be a bit of a challenge sometimes…but for seasoned veteran ears that truly love great music, I’d imagine they’ll instantly recognize that this is a band you’ll want to keep listening to.  For real – while it might be tougher to identify real peaks and valleys that can contribute to the depth of dynamics in an album overall, it’s still plenty kickass to know you can always throw on an album like this & you’re not going to want to skip past track five or eight, cause the whole thing is great.

Give’em time though…from what I can see online, this self-titled record is where it all starts.  They put out singles like “Freakshow” and “Checkmate” last year in advance of the album, but this is still very much the early side of Trainwreck Boyfriend’s career here, and if that’s the case, you’ve gotta be 100% stoked about where they can go in the future.  To further the points I’ve been making though, when I was listening to “Checkmate” and “Freakshow” – I have doubts about these being ‘singles’ as we’ve come to typically define that aspect of music.  Good songs for sure, but I’d still put up the guitar line of “Apartment Life” as the strongest hook I’ve heard so far on the album…so you see what I’m saying, right?  This band’s completely tight and they play on a unified front…I have all the confidence in the world that they’re just going to get better and better as time goes on.  All the right pieces are in place, and tracks like “Checkmate” that really lean into things like the backing vocals & keyboards from Greta are going to be big pieces in the blueprint going forward.  I might still feel like “Apartment Life” has got the most memorable hook I’ve heard, but make no mistake, “Checkmate” does flex the kind of potential they’re going to need in order to set themselves apart from the rest of what’s on the people’s playlists.  I feel like they’ve taken great care to ensure they can walk successfully before they choose to run though, and in the long run of a career, that’s the smarter way to play things.  Anyone listening to Trainwreck Boyfriend would be impressed at finding out this was a debut – they sound like they’ve been around for years already and they should collectively be extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished here.

“Love, Emily” gets pretty close to that memorable mark we’re looking for in a singular experience…in fact, I might say this could be the most single-worthy song appearing on the first half of the record, from my perspective.  Greta’s designed a brilliant structure to the melody in the verse, which really starts this track off with a brilliantly understated & subtle strength, and “Love, Emily” continues to raise the stakes in all the right ways from there.  The instrumental sections are great…the building to the chorus is bang on…the breakdown is exquisite…I mean…I don’t want ANYONE to get it twisted, I’m thrilled about what this band is already doing – I’m just arguing that I know they’ve got even more greatness ahead of them that’s equally worth getting excited about.  The implications of what’s to come for Trainwreck Boyfriend are phenomenal…I’m completely certain they’re going to have a massive future ahead of them if these are the blocks they’re building with already.  “Love, Emily” is a stellar song from start to finish, and it’s definitely right up there with the best of the tunes that I found throughout this set-list without question.  The band relentlessly holds their own…like, there are ZERO weak points in their lineup…and having such a distinctly beautiful, rich-toned voice like Greta up front is an incredible asset to have.  She’s the kind of difference maker that can absolutely propel a band straight up into the stratosphere, mark my words.

“Invisible” is probably the cut that’s going to be most noticeably better live from the stage than it seems here on the record.  I’ll reiterate loudly for the people in the back – there are NO bad songs on this album – all I’m saying is that the way the dynamics of a song like “Invisible” work make it much better suited to be a live highlight than a recorded one.  Like…for example…a lot of the guitar work in the final minute of this song is fairly suppressed in the mix, and that’s exactly the kind of stuff that would become a major moment if you were playing this song from the stage.  In general, it’s probably not my favorite recording on the album if I’m being totally honest with ya, but I can certainly hear the potential that exists for this song.  While it might struggle to break through in the way that it should in a recorded version, I’m tellin’ ya, “Invisible” could very well be THE track their audience would leave a show talking about after all was said & done.  Some songs are just like that y’all…that’s why one of the most common things you’ll ever hear from a band is their desire to get their live sound onto a recording, and it’s also why it’s one of the most elusive things to plague most artists & bands throughout their whole careers.  I tend to hear the potential for what could be just as much as what is when I’m listening to music…so take what I’m saying with the proverbial grain of salt & all, but I’d guarantee “Invisible” comes out better live.

“Reimagine” is a really cool concept.  Part tribute, part dream, part realistic look at how we drifted way further away from what John Lennon once thought we could be, and part hope that we could still get to that place one day.  “Who would have guessed you’d be relevant all this time” is a very INTERESTING line to me…I really enjoyed thinking about this.  My kneejerk reaction was like, well, EVERYBODY that ever heard the guy?  Then I started to think about it even more, and started to wonder who would ever really think they’d go on to be iconized and relevant for decades after their death.  I think…like…as a writer, there’s always been part of me that hopes that would be the case, but I don’t know that I could say that was ever a realistic dream, you know what I mean?  Like, sure…I’d love it if people were still reading my shit years and years after I was worm-food, but even I’d tell you now that the odds of that happening are like, less than zero.  So then I started to wonder if John felt the same way.  Did he really think that what he’d created was so compelling it would stand the test of time?  Does anyone really understand that they’ve written something timeless at the time of – or is it only in retrospect and hindsight that we can truly appreciate the magnitude of something so profound?  It’s fun to think about.  Lyrically, I’d say that “Reimagine” is definitely up there with my favorites in this set…I dig songs that make me think, and while that’s fairly true of the majority of Greta’s poetic musings, I think knowing the subject matter in this one contributes to a stronger connection.  I’d also tell ya that the real hook in this track is where she sings “you have not changed a bit” – and they fly right past it.  These are the kinds of things that tend to happen towards the start of a career, where you don’t really notice things the same way that we do on the other side of the speakers…but I’m tellin’ ya Trainwreck Boyfriend, it’s what you’ve got in the bridge that really hits the spot in this particular track.  When was the last time anyone said that about a bridge?

I think the closest I came to being on the fence about any tune was probably “Broke.”  It ain’t bad, but it ain’t my reason to return either, you feel me?  We all like what we like and love what we love, what are you gonna do?  There’s no pleasing everyone, and the fickle taste of public opinion should never be something anyone would want to carve their career around.  Do what you do, do it how you’d do it, do it as well as you can, and let the chips fall where they may.  Know that no matter what you do, as the creators of the material, your favorite songs are almost never going to be the same ones that people end up responding to in the way you’d hoped they would…it’s just how it goes.  The public will always latch onto tracks you almost left on the cutting room floor – ain’t it strange?  I don’t know if Trainwreck Boyfriend feels like “Broke” is up there with their best or if they were as on the fence about it as I am, but yeah…it’s a decent cut on a record that’s filled with material that’ll get more of your attention.  If anything, I think Greta likely fell in love with the line “I want to steal from your bank of emotion” and kept the candle burning for this track from that point forward.  I’ll admit, it’s a solidly clever line, but it would likely translate better inside a written poem than it tends to come out here in a song.  “Broke” is a great example of how the band never drops the quality of their performance, even in times where it might appear like the material stretches a bit thinner.  Again, that’s all you can do…you’ll never really know what’s going to hit and what’s going to miss, so just bring your best to it.  I feel like they did that.

Flexing that Veruca Salt muscle on “Don’t Go There,” I think Trainwreck Boyfriend restored some of the energy this record was missing a bit since its first half.  That’s not me saying it’s a better track because of that, so much as I’m saying listeners will appreciate the spark it comes with.  I kinda went back and forth about its choppy style…sometimes I felt like “Don’t Go There” was a bit too similar to a great many things I’ve heard, but sometimes it also felt like it scratched the itch perfectly.  I’ll put it to you this way – I think Greta leaves herself plenty of space…and I’m not always sure that’s the right approach.  Like, she’s clearly a solid writer…and my advice is usually to use your words when that’s the case.  It’s a very fine line to walk, because you don’t want to just stuff the metering of a song to the point where every line sounds the same, and I like that she gives herself the room to be dynamic in a song like “Don’t Go There” – but at the same time, I still think she’s got some space for a few more syllables and imagery to bring everything together a little more clearly.  As for the rhythm and pulse and the energy of a song like “Don’t Go There,” I feel like that’s where the band is excelling most, especially in the music.  You can hear how they move fluidly as one, and that’s the kind of unity that will serve them greatly in the future.

Ending their debut album with one of their most vividly potent tracks, “Retrogression” makes for the kind of finale this record & their combined efforts deserve.  It’d be way easier to list the things I don’t like about, ‘cause there ain’t nothing on that list…I love everything about this last track.  I think the keys from Greta are outstanding, the bass from Charlie Evans is outstanding & booms with confidence, and overall, the whole mix of subtle cinematics produces a perfect blend between its softness and intensity.  It’s one of those songs that really feels substantial…a breakthrough moment of its own, within what’s been a whole album filled with breakthrough material.  Personally, I have a hard time not feeling like this might be the most significant offering of the entire set – and you’ve already heard how much I dig what Trainwreck Boyfriend has got goin’ on, so you know that’s seriously high praise.  Something about this ending feels like a major leap in the band’s own evolution though, occurring in real-time as we listen – call me crazy, but it just feels downright special…monumental really.  It feels like it’s a nod to the future ahead of them, possibly revealing the blueprint for what’s to come…I love it…every bit of it.  “Retrogression” felt genuinely fresh…like it’s the most noticeable moment where they shed the rest of the comparisons and influences, and embrace their own uniqueness in its entirety…it’s powerful to experience.  Trainwreck Boyfriend has flexed and flirted with greatness throughout the distance of this whole set-list, but perhaps nevermore tangibly than they show you in this last track on the record.  Like I’ve been tellin’ ya from the get-go…if this is where it all starts, stand back & let’em cook – as impressive as this album has been, I am hearing nothing but green lights ahead of them…this band could go on to be HUGE.  Dream BIG my friends…I am excited to see what the future holds for ya, and you all should be too…there’s something absolutely special brewing here in Trainwreck Boyfriend – quote me on that.

Find out more about Trainwreck Boyfriend from their official website at:  https://www.trainwreckboyfriend.com

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