Back in 2014, Joyce Manor released what remains their best album, Never Hungover Again – the one with Frances Quinlan on the cover; what the hell happened to Hop Along? The album spotlighted the Torrance, California band’s energy and affinity for hooks and urgent, pop punk emotion, far more guttural and intuitive than the trendier, capitalistic bands of similar musical lineage. I’m not sure if Joyce Manor will ever really be able to replicate the magic of Never Hungover Again, but I Used to Go to This Bar is the next best thing, better than 40 Oz. to Fresno (2022), and thankfully better than Million Dollars to Kill Me (2018).
The band’s seventh album – feels like more, like they’ve been around forever – was produced by Brett Gurewitz, founder of Epitaph Records and guitarist of Bad Religion. While Joyce Manor are doing a few things differently (All My Friends Are So Depressed and The Opossum suggest an exciting future as a cowpunk band), the impulsivity of Gurewitz’s production/leadership style has encouraged them to sound like they did when they were at their best, be it the incensed, instinctive roars that frontman Barry Johnson lets out on Grey Guitar – “I SAID I THINK DANIELLE’S DEAD” – or the album’s sweet offering of takeaway choruses; the “train coming down the track and it almost gave me a heart attack” mantra of I Know Where Mark Chen Lives is an impassioned mental tattoo that gets even better the moment all instrumentation cuts out and all that’s left is Barry’s subtly-distorted voice.
While these songs simply aren’t as momentous as those of Never Hungover Again, they put in a good enough challenge and claim similar prerogatives, including Hungover’s potential to laud itself over the pop punk sweethearts that used to frequent Kerrang – the title track contains a rural emo riff like if Sum 41 moved to the Midwest. The album shoots for a similar length at nineteen minutes, and Barry continues to go through memories and grievances like Joyce Manor does drummers. They pimp the believability of suburban bittersweetness; a likeable punk foundation groomed by Descendents as Milo ventured off to college. They’re doing it with some of their best vocal harmonies that dictate the emotional journeys their songs take (Falling Into It / Well, Whatever It Was), and the occasional guitar that sounds like Black and White by Michael Jackson (After All You Put Me Through).
Best tracks – I Know Where Mark Chen Lives – All My Friends Are So Depressed – Well, Whatever It Was.
Rating – 7.5 out of 10
