New Jersey folk-punk outfit The Front Bottoms released their first new single since 2015’s Back On Top, and it’s the most radio-friendly song they’ve done.
The Front Bottoms — whose band name comes from the British slang for vagina — finally released a new single. “Raining” is the first released track from Going Grey, the band’s fourth studio LP. The song is very radio-friendly, which is a departure from The Front Bottoms’ previous sound. For longtime fans, that may feel a little weird.
Prior to signing with Fueled By Ramen LLC, The Front Bottoms produced two LPs on New Jersey indie label Bar/None Records: 2011’s self-titled and 2013’s Talon of the Hawk. Before that, they released music online that was later re-released on the Rose EP, also through Bar/None in 2014. These efforts were all marked by raw lyrics, Brian Sella’s distinctive, caterwauling vocals, and hard-hitting acoustics matched by intense, unpolished percussion from drummer Mat Uychich.
Back On Top — the band’s first effort on Fueled By Ramen — marked a change. Although all of the above elements were still there, as well as balanced bass lines from Tom Warren and distinctive hooks from multi-instrumentalist Ciaran O’Donnell, the album sounded different. Polished. Put together in a way that The Front Bottoms had never been before. It was almost over-produced in its sharp musicality and careful, cohesive construction, and that felt wrong. The chaos of an album by The Front Bottoms is half of its appeal.
So what happened?
This one seems obvious. Fueled By Ramen has produced some of the most radio-friendly pop punk in the last two decades. Bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic! At the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, and All Time Low have all called the label home. When The Front Bottoms signed with FBR, some longtime fans experienced a moment of hesitation. Would they fall into the same, radio-friendly pit as other bands on the label?
Back On Top was certainly lighter than either Talon of the Hawk or The Front Bottoms, but it also boasted tracks like “The Plan (F*** Jobs)” and “Plastic Flowers”, both of which recalled those previous records. The production value was just noticeably higher, likely because of the label change, and that didn’t necessarily do the music any favors. Songs from Back On Top are significantly better live than recorded, but that’s not unusual.
The Front Bottoms are a band whose recorded music sounds completely different from their live shows.That mostly has to do with the fans — they go hard in the pit, which no one would expect upon first listening to this folk-punk band. Brian Sella’s lyrics are dark enough to feel like a punch to the chest, but his delivery often lacks anger on the recorded stuff. Not so during live performances. Sella — and Uychich, Warren, and O’Donnell — clearly enjoys being on stage, but also pours a level of emotion into his lyrics that’s gut-wrenching.
“Raining” is almost boring in comparison.
A catchy hook and acoustic backing with light percussion make “Raining” almost sound like it’s by a different band. Sella’s voice is the only thing that sets it apart. Unfortunately, even that gets lost in the overproduction on the (repeated) line, “Cause I feel absolute fantastic.”
Historically, The Front Bottoms’ first single off any album isn’t a necessary indication of how the rest sounds. That’s largely because of how chaotic their music is — or was. The polish on Back On Top and “Raining” indicates that Going Grey may be the band’s most radio-friendly record yet. And that’s a shame, because this band won over fans by going against the grain.
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Here’s hoping that when the album is released on Oct. 13, it at least has some gravity to it.