Underlined Passages – The Accelerationists

Underlined Passages – The Accelerationists – Album Review

Talk about hot off the press – this record was just getting mastered at this time last week!

Always great to have Underlined Passages back in the mix and on our playlists.  We’ve been listening to this crew for about eight years now I figure?  We’ve seen’em release all kinds of music, go through lineup changes, and witnessed the evolution of their sound over time, but to be fair, they’ve always found ways to put out quality tunes no matter what chapter of their journey they’ve been on.  And so, we arrive at their latest – The Accelerationists, which is now out there and available for ya online.

Plus I learned something today!  I suppose I should have known accelerationist could be a word, but I didn’t.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Microsoft Word wouldn’t be bothering me about that.

The new Underlined Passages album begins with “Endsong,” because of course, right?  Why not start at the end?  Good tune…I like the punch that you’ll find in the music, and how it’s juxtaposed against the calming sound of singer Michael Nestor’s voice.  This is very reminiscent of something you’d find back in the day on an old album by The Doughboys based out of Canada…not sure if I’ve made that comparison between them & Underlined Passages in the past, but I’m covering my bases to make sure that I point it out now.  It’s a little crispy in some spots production-wise…which is a nice way of saying that it has some extra…hmmm…texture?  I’m not really for or against it, I’m just objectively reporting on what my ears are hearing…the mix is a little on the hot side.  That being said, I think the song itself is quite powerful and it continues to highlight the bold connection and delicate sincerity that Underlined Passages has always found a way of combining so well inside their material.  Nestor’s one of my favorite voices out there in the scene, truly…and I dig what he’s doing on “Endsong.”  As far as the bonus points for this first cut go though, they exclusively belong to drummer Roger Stewart, who’s playing like a man possessed back there, with hits so strong you’d think he’d be punching right through the skins all the way to the floor.  It’s a solid start overall…it sounds like Underlined Passages are playing with purpose and passion, which leads to a satisfying beginning that does what it should in getting you interested in hearing MORE.

Joseph Marcus, who has been unjustly left completely outta the beginning of this review so far, makes it so that we can’t ignore him any longer with his performance on “Heywood Floyd” – dude’s crushin’ it, and I’m stoked to hear it.  The bass lines are inventive and lively, and with them being so consistent and steady, it frees Michael up to use his guitar as more of an accent instrument rather than having to carry the song with it.  Overall, the material is sounding really well-written and it’s played just as tightly…but I gotta be real with ya & say that I’ve yet to be convinced this band has got the right production goin’ on, yet.  Could just be a difference in the way we hear what the music is calling out for…to me, the music of Underlined Passages would be best served by having the most clarity it can have in the final mix, and it currently sounds a little shier of the desired result than probably intended.  Usually that kinda stuff is all just dials and knobs on a board that need to be twisted this way or that…it’s nothing that couldn’t be adjusted further if they felt inclined to go that route.  As it stands, I don’t think what I’m hearing will be too detrimental in the court of public opinion…it’s very easy to root for Underlined Passages and want to see them succeed; they’re great people & they make great music.  The most important thing is that they have ideas, performances, and material they can be proud of…everything else can be adjusted back & forth, stirred & seasoned to taste.  Solid main hook to work with in “Heywood Floyd,” and I’d imagine that’ll be more than enough of a reason for the fans of Underlined Passages to continue to stay tuned.

Just like that wise old dude in the Karate Kid used to say, “Flaxxon,” flaxoff…errr…it was something close to that I’m sure.  Anyhow.  “Flaxxon” has UP wrapped up tight and stickin’ close to the script they’ve established.  Michael and his musical cohorts clearly have the direction they’d like to take the music of this band locked down tight, and they’re executing at a very high level.  There’s an argument to be made that Underlined Passages still has room to be a little bit more daring than they currently are…and I think that’d be a wise gamble to pursue.  You don’t wanna appear like you’re playing things too safely, or then jerks like me end up potentially pointing that out in the same breath as telling you that we still like the sound of what we hear.  It is what it is, and certainly both things can be true.  I’m not necessarily going to complain too much about MORE of a sound that I genuinely like, but I can always encourage artists & bands to dig as deep as they possibly can to tap into that creative uniqueness.  What I like about a track like “Flaxxon” is that there’s so much identity to be found in the sound of Underlined Passages within it.  Sure, they’ve got moments where they’ll remind me of bands like Slow Coda, Violet Night, Acharya, or The Doughboys at times like I’d mentioned earlier, but that’s still a relatively small pool of peers.  All in all, I think I’d have no trouble picking out Underlined Passages from any playlist blindfolded, and I think that ultimately comes down to Nestor’s signature vocal sound, and the sincere songwriting of this band.

Perhaps a lil’ crunchy as I’ve already stated, but overall, the band sounds like they’re in really good shape as they make their way through the set-list of The Accelerationists.  I had a brief moment for a second or two where I thought the hot streak might be coming to an end with “Aloof” – but I don’t feel like I’m as sure about that as I was on that first spin through the album.  I’ll tell you what that usually indicates or equates to when a reviewer says that, which is true of this scenario as well – something along the way was able to convince our ears that there was indeed, something special happening.  In most cases, like this one, you have to go through something you’re not as sure about to feel that way to begin with, which was how I felt about the verses.  Then you get to the chorus, and your muscles relax…you stop tensing up and getting ready to criticize too heavily, because the payload is there, and more often than not, an incredible moment can redefine or reshape how you feel about a song in its entirety.  Feelin’ me?  Let me spell it out for the folks in the back – “Aloof” has an outstanding chorus that will be the clincher for you.  So if you were feeling a little bit on the fence like I was at first, have no fear…let it spin, let it repeat, let it work its magic on ya, and I promise within a couple of listens, you’ll start to feel the full potency of a track like “Aloof” and the gravitational pull it possesses.  I don’t mind the verses, to be clear, but there’s no doubt whatsoever about the inspired sound that the chorus has.  That’s the difference between good and great I reckon.  When it comes to the dynamics of songwriting though, you’ve got this never-ending debate about how one part needs the other, versus just going for totally awesome all the way through.  In this context, you’ve got a song where, sure, the chorus might not stand out nearly as much as it does without a kind of ho-hum verse beforehand, but because that’s the case, the chorus really pops with vivid Technicolor sound.  The flipside of course, is if UP had gone and decided to make a verse that was equal caliber, you risk watering down the entire song if you’re not too careful.  And then of course, there are a million happy accidents in songwriting in between – but you get where I’m going I’m sure…I think “Aloof” needs both its main parts, even if the strength of one seems to far outplay the other.  The right piece is often all you need, and “Aloof” has a highlight chorus.

This band has picked SMART songs to cover so far.  The right kind of songs that aren’t overplayed…the kind of songs that are perfectly suited to their own sound/perspective…the kind of songs that are always welcome when we hear them.  I don’t have a TON of experience with all they’ve done, but I can certainly recall when they played a cover of Sarah McLachlan’s “Ice Cream” on the His Head Feels Like A Trainwreck Tonight EP from 2022.  Don’t give me too much credit, I’m Canadian and we’re obligated to know when Her Highness is being covered…in fact we’re all notified by royal decree.  They did a great job with it though, and they’ve done a solid job with “La Dolly Vita (Cresyl Mix)” originally done by the Smashing Pumpkins.  Now watch THIS…and you’ll see how insane that I AM – you ready?  Here’s your six degrees of Kevin Bacon for the day…Underlined Passages covered “Ice Cream” as the last cover I know of…and in the lyrics of “La Dolly Vita,” “Ice Cream” is MENTIONED!  Ba-ba-baaaaaaaaa!  Mystery solved, we can all go home now.  Okay, okay, I’m a nerd…but I thought that was both coincidental & interesting.  THICK-ASS hits from Roger on the drums here…dude’s got the right touch on the skins for a song like this one.  I’m sure we all have learned to have a soft spot for Corgan’s vocals, but I’m never gonna be the guy to tell you he is/was a great singer…hell of a songwriter, but c’mon…he’d be a bizarre choice as anyone’s favorite singer.  The point being, I like having Michael sing this one & I could see myself coming around to the point where I’d prefer that over Billy eventually.  As for Joseph, no notes, he’s right on the money.

“Tyrannique” is one of those songs that immediately sounds like it would be so much fun to play.  You’ve got the guitars grinding it out as it begins, but it’s really that mechanical movement of Roger on the drums that’s most responsible for generating the excitement in the way this track moves along.  The guitars…hmmmmmm…how DO I feel about those guitars?  I’m talking specifically about the lead I suppose…is this an example of what it means to be ‘burying the lead?’  I know, I know…that’s something we say for the way things are written, but look at me the writer, creating a play on words.  Sigh.  My jokes will forever be terrible.  Anyhow…what I’m saying is, when you listen to this song from say, right after the point where the final run through of the chorus is finished…I want that guitar CRANKED UP, because it is KILLER.  Easily one of my favorite moments on the record, and to be fair to Underlined Passages and folks like Frank Marchand who recorded/mixed the album & Alan Douches that mastered it, I think they did at least give it enough volume to stand out enough that we hear it.  Having said that, I’m the greediest of bastards when it comes to music and what I like to hear, and I’d still tell you that they’ve collectively left 15-25% of its potential impact on the table by not spotlighting that moment even more than it is.  Because THAT is the hook y’all…might very well be the one I look forward to the most on the whole album, which is saying a lot really.  Usually that highlight on a UP album is reserved for something Michael did with his vocals, but this time, it’s what he did on the guitar and so be it.  The whole ride to get to that point is super tight though…everything about this track from the production to the performance reminds me so much of the way the middle records in Matthew Good Band came out – albums like Beautiful Midnight & Underdogs were fully loaded with energy that resonates like this does.  The real question is whether or not we need a remix/re-write of “Tyrannique” so that we can get that AMAZING guitar hook in the mix earlier on.  It definitely creates a quality finale, but it’ll simultaneously have listeners also wondering why the heck they held onto it for so long before finally letting it loose.

It’s a great album for the energy of Underlined Passages overall, and I’d imagine that people will really dig that when it comes right down to it.  I’m not necessarily saying songs like “Somelin” will be an instant hit with their audience, or maybe even land at all on their radar in comparison to a lot of the material that surrounds it, but I do think that even if you somehow felt like this was the worst track on the record, then well, they’d be in extraordinarily good shape, wouldn’t they?  A track like “Somelin” might even have more in common with something like…There Is Nothing Left To Lose-era Foo Fighters, where you’ve got a bunch of brilliantly written Pop songs masquerading as Alternative anthems.  I’m not saying this as a slight at all – it’s way more complimentary…like…I’m still impressed that they pulled it all off as well as they did, and had a bunch of diehard bearded Grunge/Alternative fans in their flannel singing along at the top of their lungs for the first time.  “Somelin” still has a vibe that’s probably more similar to the bands I’ve already compared Underlined Passages to at the core of its sound, but the writing would be similar to something you’d find on There Is Nothing Left To Lose for sure.  In any event, I felt like “Somelin” was a rock-solid track…and to be truthful with ya, I really don’t think I’ve heard anything that I’d consider to be dead weight or a song that should have stayed on the cutting room floor when it comes to this lineup of songs so far.  UP has played this game the smart way…eight tracks, get in, get out, take no prisoners and give it everything you got…ultimately, I think the approach has really paid off for them.  Sure I might feel like there’s still some room and opportunity for the recordings to be a bit more polished than they are perhaps, but so what?  You could just as easily argue that the way things on this album sound bend more towards what you could expect if you were to see the band play LIVE.  Every artist and band you know wants to magically find a way to get their live sound on a recording, and I’d go as far as to say that what Underlined Passages has done here would get them pretty close to that.

They finish off The Accelerationists with “Remainder,” giving the last cut a little bit of a Feeder-esque Alt-Rock ballad for a slower moment in the set-list.  Here’s a fun fact for you – up until this record, I might have been willing to say that the slower Underlined Passages went with their music, the happier I would be in general, because they do melancholy & mellow so very damn well.  The reality is, so many of their up-tempo tunes hit the mark this time around that the slower material wasn’t the story here.  That’s not me saying I don’t like “Remainder” – I do…nothing wrong with this cut whatsoever.  I’m simply stating that the band has really struck some gold on this album with their faster-paced material.  I’m definitely not going to kick a song like “Remainder” off my playlists by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not quite the go-to reason to listen to The Accelerationists either.  Instead, “Remainder” almost feels like we’re drifting back a little closer to the blueprint they established long ago and playing it a little on the safe side as they wrap up their latest record.  Again, I’m not going to complain about MORE of something I love, it’s just an observation, take it or leave it…I would never expect that everyone out there feels the same way I do about everything we listen to in review on these pages of ours.  It’s our differences that make the ol’ world go ‘round, as they say, and I’m more than positive enough of their fans will come out to support a song like “Remainder” as their favorite track on the record.  It makes sense with such a similar sound that they’ve proven to execute so well in the past…who would blame their fans if they thought this was the cut of all cuts on The Accelerationists, when it’s precisely songs like this that they were probably hoping to find in the first place?  I can get behind it…it’s a low-key ending that highlights the very sound & style that has made us all love Underlined Passages, and finishes off the album on a track that might not push their story any further, but certainly satisfies our craving.

The Accelerationists comes out officially this October 17th – until that day arrives, make sure to stay connected and find out more about Underlined Passages by visiting their official website at:  https://www.underlineslove.com

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