{"id":67780,"date":"2018-07-30T14:00:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=67780"},"modified":"2018-07-29T20:12:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T19:12:07","slug":"review-thin-lips-chosen-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-thin-lips-chosen-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Thin Lips &#8211; Chosen Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-67789\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/thinlips2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Following on from their 2016 debut &#8216;<em>Riff Hard&#8217;,\u00a0<\/em>Philly darlings <strong>Thin Lips<\/strong> are back with their sophomore record that is far from being a slump.\u00a0This time their blend of breezy power-pop tackles maturer subject matters. Despite some standard emo cliche&#8217;s of heartbreak and awkwardness still being there, they have strayed away from the obvious\u00a0Modern Baseball\u00a0comparisons (apart from frontman Brendan Lukens&#8217;s subtle appearance on <em>&#8216;Gaslight Anthem.&#8217;)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If anything, <em>&#8216;Chosen Family&#8217; <\/em>has\u00a0nods veering more towards Weezer and All American Rejects, especially the bubblegum pop sweetness of <em>&#8216;A Song For Those Who Miss You All The Time&#8217;.<\/em>\u00a0Not to be overshadowed of course by the sorrowful nature of the lyrics, as frontwoman Chrissy Tashjian reflects on her younger brother&#8217;s passing. This sleek contrast dosen&#8217;t detract from the serious nature of a family member passing, but rather feels like finding comfort in the mourning process.<\/p>\n<p>Dynamically there is a shift from the gritty, abrasive tempos of their previous material. There&#8217;s an almost trashy, lo-fi tone to Tashjian&#8217;s blaring guitar hooks, oozing with early pop-punk that feels warm and comforting. The woozy, seductive<em> &#8220;ooos&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0on <em>&#8216;I Know I&#8217;m An Asshole&#8217;<\/em> seeps into 60&#8217;s surf\u00a0rock territory, all whilst retaining a healthy serving of romanticised self-depreciation; &#8220;<em>I&#8217;ll break my own heart for you again, I&#8217;m feeling bad for you my friend.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Thin Lips - Chosen Family\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PLVGSp-fwHL9WFS81U0ygmrXLVS-W-EPmT\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In contrast,<em> &#8216;Sex Is Complicated&#8217;<\/em> and <em>&#8216;South America&#8217;<\/em>\u00a0tick all the boxes for catchy, fast jams to bop along to with their enormous choruses.<\/p>\n<p>However, at times, the distorted vocal effects and layers come across as grating, alongside a few filler tracks that don&#8217;t stand out as much as the lead singles. \u00a0Every instrumental performance is vibrant and tight, despite cuts like<em> \u2018What\u2019s So Bad About Being Lonely\u2019\u00a0<\/em>and \u2018<em>So Stoned\u2019\u00a0<\/em>being the weakest on here.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, &#8216;<em>Chosen Family&#8217;<\/em>\u00a0is a heartfelt second album that solidifies <strong>Thin Lips&#8217;<\/strong>\u00a0expansive songwriting abilities and successfully pushing the envelope of indie via wholesome power-pop.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Chosen Family&#8217;<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0<strong>Thin Lips <\/strong>is out now on\u00a0<strong>Lame-O Records (US).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Thin Lips<\/strong>\u00a0links:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/xxthinlipsxx.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/XThinLipsX\/?ref=br_rs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/xthinlipsx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thinlips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ashwin Bhandari (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GIVEUPOX17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@GIVEUPOX17<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Chosen Family&#8217;\u00a0is a heartfelt second album that solidifies Thin Lips&#8217;\u00a0expansive songwriting abilities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":67789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3],"tags":[4319,169,2348],"class_list":["post-67780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-lame-o-records","tag-thin-lips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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