Touché Amoré — Lament
(Qobuz new release review, October 2020)
https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/lament-touche-amore/a9vzabligk3hb
Lament finds Touché Amoré in an interesting position. As a post-hardcore band five albums and 10-plus years into their career — and with their 20s in the rearview mirror — they’re firmly on the page of the Rock Career Calendar indicating it’s time to “mature” and “branch out” and “maybe let’s try something a little more accessible.” Add to that the fact that their last album, 2016’s Phase Four was both their most emotionally riveting (with lyrics and intensity inspired by vocalist Jeremy Bolm’s mother’s death from cancer) and sonically intricate, and you have a band primed to downshift and glide into punk rock middle age. Touché Amoré, however, decided instead to hire nü-metal icon Ross Robinson to produce their latest album. Now, whether or not this was driven by some perverse nostalgia is unclear, but the results of Robinson’s precise and clarified approach to production redound greatly to the band’s benefit, clearly delineating it from their previous Brad Wood-produced efforts. Lament is a wiry and intense album, but also full of dynamic range (both sonic and emotional). Bolm is still explosively emotional throughout, but his diaristic approach is more inclusive and empathetic here, especially on tracks like “Exit Row” and “Feign.” And while the crisp, dry midtempo romp of “Reminders” (featuring Julien Baker, who also appeared on Stage Four) sounds almost joyous, it’s still quite a melancholy and angry song. The album’s other guest slot is on “Limelight,” featuring verses from Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra) and some steel guitar flourishes that could point the way to what an “adult” Touché Amoré would sound like. However, by the time “A Forecast” closes the album with its gentle piano/vocals opening that feels a bit self-abasing but blossoms into a melodramatic catharsis, you realize that the marginal evolution of Lament is exactly how a band like this moves into middle age: by playing to their strengths. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz
