Never Shout Never - Harmony
Record Label: Loveway Records
Release Date: August 24, 2010
By now we all know who Nevershoutnever! is. A single, young dude who makes a living writing cutesy songs for teenage females to eat up like a shark in a pond filled to the brim with thousands of plump fish. A guy who's songwriting capacity is equal to his ability to use a spacebar. A fella with obnoxious song titles that are equivalent to the annoying 'f' in his name and the ridiculous artwork on his covers. It's safe to say Christofer Drew Ingle is openly hated by many, and openly loved by more.
Now, push everything I just mentioned to the side, because that's what I believe Mr. Ingle did with his latest release titled Harmony. I believe this isn't the same "super fucking cute" adolescent hippy boy we all saw emerge from thousands of Myspace plays. No, I believe we have finally witnessed the process of Ingle's maturation. Despite what numerous haters will say without even giving him a chance due to reputation, I just might be alone in saying that Ingle has finally made a quality Never Shout Never release actually worth something. Don't get me wrong. Still MASSIVE room for improvement, and in no way will I ever say that Harmony will be in contention for Album Of The Year. I'm just saying Ingle is finally taking a step in the right direction.
Opener "Harmony" is a bit awkwardly placed and isn't much to remember, but it leads into the incredibly catchy "This Shit Getz Old". Catchiness is a pretty obvious trend throughout the entire album. Pleanty of "da da da"s and choruses that get cemented in your brain for far too long. One could choose any song on the entire 11 song album (yeah! Never Shout Never has finally released a legitmate LP!) and put it up for everyone to hear on the radio, I can guarantee it would be an instant hit (not that it takes much to be a hit nowadays). On the next track, "CheaterCheaterBestFriendEater" , Ingle brings back the infamous uke and strums it out to a song about, you guessed it!, a cheating girl.
Now I can't say that "Oh I know all about your type/You're the type o' girl that texts all day and talks all night" is a well written line, but I CAN concur that the lyrics on this album are a bit of an improvement upon previous work. The cheesiness and cliches are still quite present, sadly, but I can still feel some maturity in some of the lyrics. A good example of this is the semi-surprising song "Sellout".
At first when I saw that Ingle wrote a song about selling out my brain was screaming hypocrisy, and with a line like "I know I should be the last one to speak about this/But even sellouts have their dreams" apparently Ingle agrees, which is what makes this song so clever. The travesty of selling out....from the sellout's point of view, and breaking away from the sellout mindset. "Deep down in my soul/It's taken three whole years to gain control" shows that Ingle finally did what he wanted to do with this album. Did his own thing instead of what was demanded of him, which is all he needed.
Christofer Drew may not be able to write a long, heartfelt, meaningful song at the moment, but I can assure you that the talent to write short, catchy ones is in the bag! Now if he can just find a way to expand on the bright spots he established here on this album, I feel he may just be able to gain the respect of a wider audience that isn't exclusive to females, ages 10 to 16.
Decent review. This record is easily one of the biggest improvements of any artist this year. I spin this record more often than I ever thought I'd listen to NSN.
Very well written review. Haven't listened to this yet 'cause the last album was just awful, imo.
Thank you. I definitely suggest you do if you can tolerate catchy radio-friendly acoustic songs without puking. His vocals are much less whiney and more grown up. I shouldve mentioned that.
Decent review. This record is easily one of the biggest improvements of any artist this year. I spin this record more often than I ever thought I'd listen to NSN.
I liked the new Bring Me The Horizon album too. WHAT UP!
Well so far Dog_Sized_Bird is the only one still hating on BMTH with a passion even after There Is A Hell... was released. Glad to see that you're more intellectual than he. I still think if Drew wouldve never raved so highly over it, and given it a lower score, they would still be just as hated as they were before.
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