{"id":64344,"date":"2018-06-04T18:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T17:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=64344"},"modified":"2018-07-08T12:46:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T11:46:04","slug":"review-retirement-party-somewhat-literate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-retirement-party-somewhat-literate\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Retirement Party &#8211; Somewhat Literate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-64345\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Retirement-Party-Somewhat-Literate.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>It\u2019s not often you\u2019ll hear an album open with a line like <em>\u201cI think cancer\u2019s gonna\u2019 kill me\u2026\u201d<\/em>, and less common is the same album leaving you with a genuine, smile at the end of it. But <strong>Retirement Party<\/strong> do just that on their debut, <em>\u2018Somewhat Literate\u2019.<\/em> The Chicago three-piece explore vocalist Avery Springer\u2019s tales of mental health and journey into adulthood, crafting an album that ventures into serious topics and tries to find the good in it for both Avery and the listener.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c\u2026Cause I got a <\/em>real<em> bad sunburn when I was thirteen.\u201d<\/em> Is how that opening quote is ended on \u2018<em>That\u2019s How People Die\u2019<\/em>, a noisy number that finds tales of anxiety surrounded feedback and crunching riffs. The lyrics glide from macabre to humorous without a second to look back, setting their style in stone on this album\u2019s first few moments.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Truck Stop Casino\u2019<\/em> catches a tale of self-doubt and discomfort, taking some introspective song-writing with cleverly timed pangs of the guitar and prosodic vocals with the drumming. They manage to do this constantly, reinforcing the vocals with instruments as if they hung to the end of her lines.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/393688758&amp;color=ff5500\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The lyrical content could easily have made this project a challenging listen, but their approach makes it easily digestible and accessible, making light of real topics and playing them out in understandable ways. Avery emphasises the importance of friendship when it comes to getting through issues. <em>\u2018Passion Fruit Tea\u2019<\/em>s sharp chorus puts it over employment, submerged in solos and math-y riffs towards the end of its gratuitous closing. <em>\u2018The Big Boom\u2019<\/em> brings confidence with the chant of <em>\u201cI am better than you know\u201d,<\/em> making for one of the most directly uplifting moments.<\/p>\n<p>This is an uplifting album, despite the number of lyrics that may seem to challenge that. <em>\u2018Somewhat Literate\u2019<\/em> recognises a host of depressive events and carries their weight with pride, turning them into art for the world to experience for themselves.<\/p>\n<p>4\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;Somewhat Literate&#8217;<\/em> by <strong>Retirement Party<\/strong> is out now on <strong>Counter Intuitive Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Retirement Party<\/strong> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/retirementpartychicago\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rtrmntprty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rtrmntprty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Sam Seaton (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BIMMBrighton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@BIMMBrighton<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;\u2018Somewhat Literate\u2019 recognises a host of depressive events and carries their weight with pride&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":64345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5879,15437,15394,15438],"class_list":["post-64344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-reviews","tag-counter-intuitive-records","tag-retirement-party","tag-somewhat-literate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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