WEATHERS - ARE WE HAVING FUN?
Sharing thoughts from all walks of life including mental health, messages to exes, and finding new love, the Los Angeles trio bring their strong storytelling into all twelve tracks of this extraordinary record, Are We Having Fun? The album itself is unpredictable in the best way possible. In the first spin, listeners will be able to visualize the stories being told by songwriters Cameron Boyer and Cameron Olsen and even be able to resonate with them.
The album opens with ‘One of a Kind’ which the band has been playing live for years, so, understandably, fans are excited to see the track finally get a studio release. The track shows the struggles of being at the end of what one may be able to deal with, and just wanting to escape. The lyrics “Lay on the floor, locked all of my doors / yeah I’ve felt this before” show the struggles the band feels being stuck in a loop, and feeling yourself falling apart yet again.
‘She Hates Me’ is the latest single to come from this record and starts with a very energetic buildup before singer Boyer's voice comes through with bassist Brennen Bates’ playing the main riff of the track. The song touches on the emotions and feelings having to do with putting yourself first over someone else and the person getting upset about it. The song ends with guitars by Olsen and strong drums to make this one of the most amped up tracks of the album.
The first single released in preparation for the album, ‘Where Do I Sign?’ starts with prominent bass from Bates and vocals from Boyer and shares more prominent guitar form Olsen than we’ve seen previously in the record. “No more headaches, heartbreak, where do I sign?” implies the idea of getting to a point of doing something drastic to escape things going on. This is evident also in the rest of the lyrics, talking about doing absolutely anything to escape the current reality making the analogy of selling your soul to feel peace.
‘Carsick’ touches on seeing the person you used to love move on, but also knowing how much the person has hurt you. “My mind plays tricks and it drives me mad cause I can only remember the good times we had / Should've left a note written on my head to remind myself you’ve ruined my life,” and “I shouldn’t be mad at what I can’t have / I hate to admit it but I would love you again” show the feelings deep down that are still felt for this person, though they’ve done things to hurt the narrator of the story.
Hints to the band’s influences can be seen in songs like ‘Goodbye to my Friends’ which slows the album down substantially. This acoustic-led track shows the feeling of feeling like in the future people you once loved will no longer care, or they have left in one way or another. “I’m hanging onto something, knew this day was coming, good things always end / goodbye to my friends, and what's the point of living if I don't have a reason, it’s okay, i'll see you again” show strong emotion through Boyer’s voice, especially as the track begins to die down and his voice becomes increasingly softer repeating the lines “It’s okay, I’ll see you again, goodbye to my friends” as the music fades out, perfectly tying the themes of the album together. Boyer has stated to have wanted to pull inspiration from artists the band grew up with in this album, and this is eminent with this song which gives a lot of the same vibes as ‘The Light Behind Your Eyes’ by My Chemical Romance in a musical sense.
The album closes with ‘Little Castaway’ which is teased in the interlude of the album. The track gives off more summertime anthem vibes than the rest of those in the record, in the sense that this song is more about the narrator having found and loved someone rather than the previous tracks which are filled with hurt from the person they had loved. The track ends turning back to the album’s first track, ‘One of a Kind’ and begins the story all over with the sound of changing a track on a cassette tape.
With this album, it’s clear to see the inspirations the band has had in their earlier years push through into the music they create together. Boyer explains that when making the record, they had felt some sort of loss, saying, “When we were making the record, we were feeling a bit of rage and sort of doomed. So we asked ourselves, ‘Is this even fun anymore? Or, are we doing this because we’re stuck?’ Since the music encompasses a lot of raw emotion, we decided to be very honest with the title. We want you to walk away feeling like you were heard, and it’s okay to not be okay. At the same time, we’re trying to get out of the darkness, because no one wants to be in the dark for too long. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. When you’re on the floor crying, you’re not the only one. It’s important for the three of us to express ourselves, stick together, and support each other as well as everybody out there who supports us.” and this album does just that. Combining raw emotions of hurt and loss while encompassing the story-telling they’re known for in their music with Boyer and Bates both being very involved in filmmaking.
Niki Davidson
★★★★★