Painted Shut

 Hop Along

Record Company

4/5 Stars

The draw of Hop Along (and the band’s most distinguishing characteristic) is clearly Frances Quinlan’s unique vocal style. At times, it’s yelly and scratchy; at others, it’s soothing and wispy. Maybe it’s this dynamic that makes Hop Along’s music intriguing and powerful for so many people. Its second album, Get Disowned, was released in 2012 and had a sort of cult following. Missing from the band’s latest album, Painted Shut, are the classical strings that pervaded Get Disowned. Despite this, the albums have similar characteristics. These similarities include minimal guitar and vocal effects, and lyrics that contain strange, yet interesting, subject matter (see “The Knock”). Maybe the most notable difference between the albums is the added production from John Agnello. In the past, he has produced albums for Dinosaur Jr, The Hold Steady, and Kurt Vile. However, even with the increased production quality, the band still manages to sound raw on Painted Shut. The songs in the album are still heartfelt and sometimes even deeply personal.

Hop Along’s new record displays a variety of different influences, which is often characteristic of something innovative. Sure, comparisons to bands like Waxahatchee and Lemuria are notable, but Hop Along achieves a different sound that no one does quite as well these days. The music is somewhat representative of where the band currently calls home, Philadelphia, picking up on a few emo and punk influences which the city is known for. In fact, in 2013 the band added guitarist Joe Reinhart from the Philadelphia emo band Algernon Cadwallader to their lineup. Algernon Cadwallader was one of the very first bands that began reviving the sound of Cap’n Jazz and its ‘90s emo contemporaries circa 2006. Reinhart’s exultant guitar-playing that was present in Algernon makes itself known in Painted Shut. Even more, the child-like energy that Cadwallader possessed is not lost in Hop Along. Often, Quinlan recalls experiences from her formative years, like on one of the album’s bests, “Powerful Man,” where she cites the memory of watching a father physically abuse their child.

Though the music on Painted Shut is not strictly punk, Hop Along brings punk attitudes to the mix. For example, in the yearnful “Texas Funeral” Quinlan sings in rejection of the overt coolness of the west coast: “I’m going out flipping the bird to California. Keep your mountains, stars! I followed all the rules.” Or through the suppressed rebellion expressed in “Well-Dressed” with its stark imagery: “It’s built a freeway all around my bed. I saw it once open its great mouth wide, but it was so full of afflicted houses and buildings I can’t remember what it was saying.” It seems laws and rules have been a consistent theme in Hop Along’s music, recalling one of the highlight tracks of Get Disowned, “Tibetan Pop Stars.” It ends with the refrain: “My love is average. I obey an average law.” It is almost as if Frances expresses some sorrowful acceptance of authority.

Painted Shut serves as an example that traditional rock instrumentation is still a relevant and visceral mode of musical expression, and overall, the album is the band’s most solid effort yet. While it displays clear influences, Painted Shut should be described as anything but derivative, and honestly I’m surprised at just how many songs from this album I enjoy.

Favorite tracks: “Horseshoe Crabs,” “Texas Funeral,” “Powerful Man,” “Well-dressed”