Rad Science
by
eleventyseven Eleventyseven returns with their first full release since 2011's sugar-coated "Sugarfist", and Rad Science is one of their strongest releases to date.
Unicorn Punk Pop Electronic Rock: MASTERED | Posted January-18-2020
Eleventyseven returns with their first full release since 2011's sugar-coated "Sugarfist", and Rad Science is one of their strongest releases to date.
The album starts out with "New Rock Bottom," a song describing Matt's personal struggles to stay afloat in a world that continually pushes him down. The song definitely doesn't offer much hope, but is catchy and easy to sing along to. A strong album opener for sure!
Next, we have an amazing dedication to adulthood, "1990 Awesome," a song reflecting on the glory days of their youth, and where they had hoped to be now. "We were 1990 awesome, now we're just chaperones."
My personal favorites are up next. "New York Minute" is a song describing a young romance just beginning, and the fun times they have along the way. "Holding Out" is a strong bop, it really captures the essence of adulthood and expectations placed on adults, similar to "1990 Awesome," it's describing past hopes, dreams, and aspirations and brings us into the present, where adulthood gets quite monotonous.
The album progresses and slows down a bit with the poppy, over produced "Microchip," a song that describes our relationship to technology, how we treat our bodies like our cell phones, constantly draining, and refilling, living for a moment and not in the moment. Honestly, not Matt's strongest writing, but a good song to reflect to regardless.
Keeping with the slower theme, "Inside Out" is next. This song is describing a distanced relationship Matt is experiencing, presumably a song about Matt's faith here.
Up next, another of my favorites, "Kick the Habit." This song is masterfully written. But, it may take a few listens to fully understand the depth of these lyrics. Matt is talking about how hard some habits are to break, and how sometimes they even kick back.
"Hourglass" starts out slower, where Matt is singing about feeling empty, incomplete, and desperate for home. After the first verse, the song speeds up, and leads into a catchy beat that really captures what we all love about eleventyseven. One of the stronger songs in the second half of the album, for sure.
"Neverafter" and "Wish Myself Away" round out this incredible release. "Neverafter," definitely leaves something to be desired, but it is a good track nonetheless. "Wish Myself Away" is one of Matt's best songs, in my opinion. It feels like a prequel to a Jellyrox (Matt's side project) song, titled "Someone Else." "Someone Else" is a song about self-acceptance, while "Wish Myself Away" is a song about realizing all the things about himself he wishes were different.
All in all, this album is VERY strong. It's got everything you'd want from eleventyseven, pop, punk, electronic, heavy drums, unicorns--it's an excellent effort. Well worth the listen.
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