Every now and then, you get an album to review that greets you with pleasant surprise after only one listen. Well, I think I've received my surprise album of the year with This Providence's debut full-length. This Providence has constructed an album full of outstanding instrumentation in the catchiest fashion yet. But not the kind of catchy that will fill the radio waves and be admired on MTV, the kind of catchy that forces you to simply move to the music. I've noticed a lot of feedback on this band that has found their style of music related to pop punk; but I'm not hearing another pop punk band. I'm hearing an incredibly whole-hearted sound. Calling this album pop punk is lazy and diminishes a solid, well-rounded album.
The guitars displayed in Our Worlds Divorce, is some of the finest guitar work I've heard in quite some time. They are connected perfectly with each other, and there is an incredible amount of intricacy within each note. A fantastic amount of attention to detail was obviously placed on the guitar lines, as they are clearly the most powerful aspect of this album. The guitars are joined nicely by a really broad and full bass sound that really compliments their parts. The drumming is very solid as well, as it adds a more developed aspect to the overall sound.
The lead vocals are powered by a high, laid-back pitch which is then complimented by a deeper and broad sound, and the end result is a rather solid vocal structure, that while it isn't the album's strongest point, it is definitely not the weakest. It's just the right match for the music. There are plenty of choruses, and yes, they are catchy, but they sound meaningful in the same context. They aren't catchy just to be catchy.
The lyrics to this album are clearly centered on the theme of self-growth and adjustment in life. Spending much of their high school careers, focusing on their band and playing music, you can see where this topic enters the lives and music of This Providence. The track, "To Kill This," noticeably cries out the pain of growing up; "With a lack of self esteem I walked into my teens / and six years later I'm still frustrated / I'm still not who I want to be / And now it all comes down to, am I treating you right? / If I could just be all that I can for her / That's when I'd be the man I long to be/ I hate this cycle it's a never-ending story of infinite last chances / I keep telling myself, just grow up / But it's so easy to say, and so much harder to do"
This release certainly had a lot of heart poured into it. From the songwriting, lyrics, instrumentation, and delivery; I think maybe the youth of this band finds them still in-between their time of innocence and the future of responsibility that lies ahead. This Providence manages to capture the innocence so many of us long for as we grow up, and that in itself, is pretty remarkable.
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