Punk is a music genre often associated with grassroots and “sticking it to the man”. Par for the course for the evolution of anything, the harsher edge of punk has softened from studded and spiked leather jackets and mile-high mohawks of the eighties to button-down flannels and sometimes Hawaiian shirts and Vans. But the message tends to be one and the same; rebellion, anti-norm, and angst wrapped in a DIY bow.
L.A.’s Sad Park truly comes into their own with their third album No More Sound (Pure Noise Records). “This is the first time we had a budget,” says drummer Grant Bubar, “and the first time we rented out a studio instead of sneaking into whatever one Sam [Morton, bassist/vocalist] was working at night to record stuff. Making this album has been wonderful.”
Recorded in only 10 days at Balboa Studios, the alt emo punk quartet found a groove they could really thrive in without sounding too similar to their influences. Pairing up with singer/guitarist Sean Bonnette of folk/punk outfit AJJ, who produced the album and collaborated with vocalist/guitarist Graham Steele on songwriting, allowed the group to unleash whatever emotions and subjects were felt at the time and provided the opportunity for each band member come into their own musical and instrumental style. Bonnette also guided their first approach to a thematic album, one that encapsulates life, death, love, and time.
Starting the album with ‘No More Songs’, a short, softly sung intro that fades out with an increasingly shout-sung lyric “I can’t compete”, it gives way to ‘Always Around’ which is upbeat and more indie-leaning. Sprinkled across the album are nods to ska and gritty pop punk, while the songs ebb and flow between somber, melancholic tones and quick-paced fervor. The cloud of human existentialism looms and is a frequent theme within Sad Park’s discography, but this earned a finer-toothed sanding and polish from Bonnette.
“I’ve never written lyrics down,” Steele admits, “and I go into the studio with nothing. Having Sean there was great for this because we got the chance to really work out the theme of the album. We both understood what we were trying to say. So once the music was done, me and Sean were outside just cranking out lyrics for the thing that we just recorded. I think it really puts the album in this specific place and time—as opposed to, ‘Well, I wrote these lyrics two years ago in summer and I wrote those during winter when I was going through this thing.’ We wrote these lyrics during this time for this moment.”
The album concludes with ‘No More Sound’, which is a tie back to the intro ‘No More Songs’, and it’s where everything comes full circle. Where the intro perhaps brings the feeling of defeat, the closer brings enlightenment. Sad Park has built themselves a strong platform with No More Sound. Their future is wide open.
Buy the album here:
https://www.sadpark.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-sound
7 / 10
JESSIE FRARY