QandnotMatt

I'm not a Face to Face guy at all. I like a handful of their more known punk songs but damn, this album hits. You can tell how good their songwriting is when they turned the tempo down. This is definitely less of a punk album and more of an alt rock/emo album that deserves a reassessment. The album runs a bit long but if the band pivoted to this sound in their older age, I would not be mad about it whatsoever. "Heart to Hearts" is the track here, for sure.

This absolutely doesn't hit Blue/Pinkerton levels. Maybe not even Green. But there are some good songs on here and it's clear Rivers is on some self-improvement kick (pretty sure he admitted to getting into Buddhism/yoga at this time) but the simplicity of the lyrics nerfs what could be decent songs ("My Best Friend", "The Other Way"). Strongest tracks are "The Damage In Your Heart," "We Are All on Drugs," and "Hold Me."

Extremely one-note album. There are good songs here but could've shaved off a song or used a bit more variety. These nu-shoegaze bands either need to play around with variety (Cloakroom, Ovlov) or be sure they're writing AMAZING songs. This does neither, only settilng for one vibe and only decent-to-good songs. Heard this twice now, likely won't come back.

If this was any other band with the same music, this would've been a Pitchfork hit. A hidden gem in the Get Up Kids catalog with its new wave/Britpop influence.