- Code:
Name .:. Fall Out Boy - So Much (For) Stardust
Genre : Alternative
Source : CDDA
Type .:. Album
Artist : Fall Out Boy
Label : Atlantic (Warner)
Titel : So Much (For) Stardust
Tracks : 13
Playtime : 44:22
Size : 84,79 MB
Encoder : VBRNEW - LAME3.100 - V0
Quality : VBR kbps / 44.1kHz / Joint-Stereo
Bitrate : avg. 264kbps
[ Tracklist ]
01.Love from the Other Side 04:40
02.Heartbreak Feels So Good 03:38
03.Hold Me Like a Grudge 03:36
04.Fake Out 03:30
05.Heaven, Iowa 03:57
06.So Good Right Now 02:59
07.The Pink Seashell Feat. Ethan Hawke 01:02
08.I Am My Own Muse 03:46
09.Flu Game 03:38
10.Baby Annihilation 01:08
11.The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years) 03:55
12.What a Time to Be Alive 03:42
13.So Much (For) Stardust 04:51
Total 44:22 Min
If youÆre anything like me, when Chicago pop-punkers
Fall Out Boy announced that they were releasing a
new record, So Much (For) Stardust, earlier this
year, you were a little bit sceptical. The bandÆs
2018 outing, M A N I A, was a bit of a mixed bag and
nobody was really sure what to think. However,
Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman, and Andy
Hurley pleasantly and happily surprised me with the
first two singles released for this outing, and I
was on the edge of my seat eagerly awaiting for
March 24th and the albumÆs release.
The first single, and lead song æLove From The Other
SideÆ are a great way to kick off the record. ItÆs
like the return of Fall Out Boy of old, with the
foursome firmly digging their feet back into their
pop-punk roots. The orchestral arrangement that
opens before the heavy guitars and drums kick, in is
a great way to ease you in, which is pretty much a
banger from beginning to end. Next up is the second
single æHeartbreak Feels So GoodÆ, which also has an
incredibly entertaining music video featuring a
cheeky cameo from WeezerÆs Rivers Cuomo. I think
what I like most about the first two tracks on this
record is that while æLove From The Other SideÆ
feels very old school FoB, whilst æHeartbreak Feels
So GoodÆ feels very much new age FoB and has major M
A N I A vibes with a little more synth influenced.
IÆm always a big fan of Patrick absolutely belting
out and hitting those high notes as well, and this
has plenty of those moments.
æHold Me Like A GrudgeÆ is next and holy hell, that
opening bassline? Pete Wentz, ladies, gentlemen and
non-binary folk! ItÆs bloody brilliant. ItÆs also
got some of those old fast as heck lyrics that
Patrick is so gooood at delivering, and it does feel
a BIT like Michael JacksonÆs æSmooth CriminalÆ, but
not at the same time. I will always stand by the
statement that Joe Trohman is criminally (see what I
did there?) underrated as a guitarist, but he does
get to show off a little here. æFake OutÆ follows
and it starts out a lot slower than the previous
entries and has a lot more of a chill vibe, however
Andy HurleyÆs drums keep the pace feeling a little
more urgent. Pat spends most of the track singing in
his higher octave, and it will never not amaze me
how he manages to sing that high, maintain it, and
still sound so gracious. ItÆs definitely a great way
to settle listeners back down after the high of the
first three songs.
æHeaven, IowaÆ kicks off with maracas so itÆs always
going to get a big thumbs up from me! ItÆs almost a
ballad, but itÆs also pretty rocky. Instrumentally
itÆs an absolutely beautiful piece of music. AndyÆs
drums, whilst pretty hard-hitting donÆt drown out
the harmony of Joe and PatrickÆs guitars, with
PeteÆs bass woven in perfectly to keep it all
together. The percussive elements used throughout
also bring a different vibe, and Joe gets a great
solo at the tail end of it. æSo Good Right NowÆ
delivers the party feels that were lost in the
melancholy of æHeaven, IowaÆ. You can tell that
Green Day have always been a big influence on Fall
Out Boy with the song feeling a little bit like
æMeet Me On The RoofÆ, but 20 times better. ItÆs
also a jam that would almost feel perfect at a
1950Æs school dance, or in a prom scene in a 2020Æs
teen romcom; or maybe in the scene where the
characters fall in love during a montage. A scene
from the film Reality Bites featuring Troy, a
character played by Ethan Hawke is interwoven into
æThe Pink SeashellsÆ, yes, you read that right,
Ethan Hawke, is essentially what this track is, just
with an instrumental played throughout. IÆm not
really sure what the point of this is, but it feels
a bit like an intermission in the record which it
may well be seeing as it marks the exact midpoint of
So Much (For) Stardust.
æI Am My Own MuseÆ builds on my theory of æThe Pink
SeashellsÆ being the intermission, especially with
the string arrangement that open it and slowly
builds it to a crescendo when the drums come in and
smack you in the face. ItÆs pretty epic overall,
with the orchestral arrangement making up the
backbone, with the heavy rock guitar, drums and bass
filling the rest of the musical space. The
subsequent track is æFlu GameÆ, which is a great
name for a song, but not as great as the next in
line æBaby AnnihilationÆ (more on that in a second).
Distorted guitar kicks this one off before the
vocals come in, and from there itÆs pretty much
non-stop good, fun. It also feels very familiar in
the way that itÆs very old school FoB, think Folie A
Deux era! ThereÆs a bit of a surprise at the climax,
so make sure you listen all the way through. æBaby
AnnihilationÆ is a spoken word piece by Pete Wentz
and feels very much like a poem, with some weird ass
instrumental that feature some pretty odd distorted
sounds.
æThis Palace was crystal / but the word was a cruel
joke / What is there between us / If not a little
annihilationÆ
æThe Kintsugi Kid (10 Years)Æ begins the countdown
to the end. æIÆve spent 10 Years, 10 years in a
bitter chemical haze / And I missed the way that I
feltÆ is the driving lyric during the chorus, and I
think it tells a very definitive story of what it
feels like to be under the influence of æchemicalsÆ
such as drugs and alcohol. It made me think back to
æWhat A Catch, DonnieÆ, all the way back on Folie A
Deux, a song that Pete wrote about his battle with
depression and his suicide attempt, almost as a
letter to Patrick Stump. I got just this side of
nostalgic thinking about my own struggles and I
think if anyone else has been through something
similar, æThe Kintsugi KidÆ will definitely hit that
little spot inside of them. Even more so when you
think about the fact that æKintsugiÆ is the Japanese
art of literally filling and fixing cracks in
pottery and other objects with lacquer usually
including gold.
Thankfully æWhat A Time To Be AliveÆ wakes us all
back up from our emo stupor and has a much happier
and uptempo vibe, with a foot firmly in the disco
elements of the 1970s. ItÆs upbeat, itÆs dancey,
itÆs disco, and itÆs a total party from start to
finish. ItÆs a 180 in terms of feel from the
previous track, and itÆs this sort of ebb and flow
in their song choices that make Fall Out Boy a class
act.
Lastly, (and sadly!) we have the closing track, æSo
Much (For) StardustÆ. The strings are back for this
one and IÆm momentarily pulled into a renaissance
ballroom before the rest of the instrumental kicks
in. Piano and trumpet make an appearance as well,
and additional trumpet is always a nice touch!
Patrick has always said heÆs heavily influenced by
soul and punk music (maybe why he called his solo
record Soul Punkàà) and I think that shows on this
one. The album closer also features lyrics from
æLove From The Other SideÆ and itÆs that sort of
throwback that makes a record cohesive, and while it
could be seen as cheesy, it absolutely isnÆt. æSo
Much (For) StardustÆ is an epic offering all over,
and just a great way to finish off whatÆs a great
album.
Overall, the record is a bit rocky, itÆs a bit pop
punk, itÆs a bit synthy, and itÆs a bit disco! A
10/10 is increasingly rare for me nowadays as I can
always pick one or two things on a record that just
donÆt sit well with me. However, Fall Out Boy have
always been amazing at using their albums to tell a
story and So Much (For) Stardust is no exception to
this. The five-year wait between records has
definitely been worth it, and this is one IÆm going
to be playing this release over and over again.
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