The sophomore project of midwest emo and screamo act Home Is Where, they lurk within a world that keeps being stained over piled-up destruction. Bringing along expanded instrumentation and a lot of melodic vibrancy amidst this wild concept, ‘the whaler’ ends up as their strongest and brightest album to date.
‘the whaler’ presents a world where everything just keeps breaking down from devastation after devastation, with Macdonald’s voice screaming “Every day feels like 9/11” at the top of her lungs as she lays down apropos to the track ‘everyday feels like 9/11’. While ‘I Became Birds’ might feel too short for its own good, it already lands efficiently due to the midwest emo and screamo synthesis, with Macdonald’s writing and vocal screaming firmly cementing their strengths right on the money. ‘The Whaler’ continues this efficiency, yet they unveil a lot more under the belt that carves out the rather dour emo soundscape of Home Is Where’s sophomore album.
Through all the manic shrieking and clearer singing that lend a lot of cutting texture from Brandon MacDonald comes the fidgety folk punk and midwestern emo palette that the band placed down in their debut project, but there is a lot more to feed off the exceedingly magnetic melodies. On the opening track ‘skin meadow’, there is a singing saw that envelops the layers of horns, pianos, and guitars in the second half with its whirring tone. This added instrumentation continues not just there, where the addition of tape loops, pedal steel, organ, harmonica, and banjo allows the compositions to sound a lot more colorful bringing needed variation for the tracks to keep bruising forth. It also helps that there is a stunning quality to the melodies from this project. The frenetic screamo cut of ‘everyday feels like 9/11’ provides the straightforward jabs right out of the gate, and the melodic slopes that come from ‘skin meadow’ with the wondrous instrumental pile-ups to its second half, ‘lily pad pupils’ with the slower americana touches from the organ and the pedal steel gradually transitions to Macdonald’s visceral wailing, and ‘yes! yes! a thousand times yes!’ with the switch up to that glorious midwest emo melodies are outstanding, yet those cuts only make up half of what makes the project stand out. The other cuts that stick out even further are the more brilliant cuts like ‘whaling for sport’ and ‘daytona 500’ as the brighter instrumentation from the former’s meditative tone from the spare melodies and the harmonica to the latter’s joyous piano and pedal steel just makes the flow of the project to start with ragged tones yet goes further to end up replacing it with glimmering southern textures. Continuing through ‘chris farley’ which goes off with a frenetic start modulating into a slower but vase-breaking end and ‘nursing home riot’ casts whirring organs that add a cloudy atmosphere to the firm melodies, ‘floral organs’ takes similar melodic progressions from ‘skin meadow’ and dips it into shimmering tones where the brighter instrumentations allow that cut to end with a smile, just before the ambient passage loops back the very start of the project.
That contrast between the bright jangles and the ferocious wrangles also comes into the main conceptual idea that the project circulates toward, which is about the entire world reliving through the horrendous event of 9/11 wherein the effects keep piling up over and over again. That horror does come through sharply through Macdonald’s insanely visceral writing, entailing details of graphic feral imagery that permeates across the record. And there is that sense of anger towards God due to how much that repetitive event just creates more worsening effects on her surroundings, where the only thing everybody does is accept it and be resilient rather than do something about it. Yet in between that message of criticizing the idea of resiliency amidst a world that keeps becoming torturous alongside the trans subtext that Macdonald kneads in, the project eventually emphasizes belonging with somebody that will at least stay along amidst the churning chaos, a sense of hope that might be small, but it’s something worth keeping along the way as that destructive day repeats itself over and over again.
From the expanded instrumental tones that allow the melodies to shine with their bright and ragged moments as well as the conceptual writing rendering details in both visceral and shimmering aspects, ‘the whaler’ manages to make everything connect throughout. Improving upon their debut in the wildest of ways, the project carries the more it piles through the midst of a harrowing world. Perhaps, being the whaler doesn’t seem too bad after all, capable to recognize the bullshit ideologies of numbed resiliency that’s unwilling to change the worst aspects of life as every bile keeps throwing itself at everyone is one thing, but allowing yourself to live with somebody besides you amidst that situation at least brings a sense of hope to break that mundanity down, whether in big or small measures.
Favorite Tracks: ALL OF THEM
Least Favorite Track: …