If you were an emo-leaning teenager on Tumblr in the early 2010’s, you likely have the words ‘Never again will I let someone in‘ forever etched into your brain. The lyrics to The Story So Far‘s 2011 song “Roam” were plastered all over a seemingly endless catalogue of black and white pictures of the band. Even if you never actually heard the song (although I’m probably one of a handful of members of that cultural niche who went through that era without listening to “Roam” at least once), it was abundantly clear how massive the band was, and they soon solidified their place as one of contemporary pop punk’s poster boys.
I didn’t listen to their music until a few years after that initial boom in popularity, picking up their debut Under Soil and Dirt in early 2016. It was jarring to listen to that phrase I had only ever read in my own voice and cadence, and the rest of the album didn’t cause much of a positive impression. I wasn’t especially charmed by Parker Cannon’s vocal style, and generally felt his melodies throughout the record felt forced, straining to fit the music to his lyrics instead of vice versa. In the end, I catalogued The Story So Far as a band that just really wasn’t for me, and that was fine. So, almost a decade later, I went into I Want to Disappear, their 5th studio album, with tempered hopes, anticipating I’d hear it on the way home from work and that would be that. Instead, it has become an essential part of my early-summer soundtrack, any obstacle to enjoyment posed by my prior conceptions of the band almost instantly shattered by how astounding this record is.
The album gets off to an explosive start thanks to “All This Time”, with the band not pulling any punches as they immediately unleash an exhilarating whirlwind of big, lively riffs and intricate drumming. Propelled by the instruments’ energy, Parker Cannon produces an impassioned performance as he sings about what seems like the aftermath of a suicide, and the complicated feelings of doubt, bitterness, and forgiveness that can follow such a harrowing experience. These themes could seem out of place on a pop punk record, a genre in which many bands appear to remain emotionally stunted, but throughout the record, Cannon’s lyrics tackle them with maturity and poignancy. The quick-fire verses and choruses give way to a more open bridge section that takes up the final half of the song, slowly building up to a cathartic finale.
“Watch You Go” erupts from the ashes of “All This Time” with a quick count-in followed by a classic punk drum beat and shining guitars. After a couple bars, the rhythm of the instruments shifts to a more angular approach, maintaining the energy of that initial section but mixing things up. Then comes the chorus and it’s a glorious and anthemic affair, before returning to that frantic start. Simplicity and complexity coexist with great success all over I Want to Disappear, which boasts excellent instrumentals that the excellent mix by Jon Markson (who also produced) and Rich Costey really helps in highlighting. As is the case with most popular music, the vocals are the focal point, but the duo have managed for Cannon’s voice to never overshadow the instrumentation, and actually easily allow one to shift focal points and have the guitars, bass, and drums in the forefront. And it’s an absolute treat, as the instrumental sections on I Want to Disappear are exciting and engaging, well worth the attention to revel in the craftsmanship and chemistry of Keven Geyer (guitar), Ryan Torf (drums, bass, guitar), and Will Levy (guitar).
All the way back in August of last year, the band released their first single since 2018, the short, sweet and punchy “Big Blind”, although it wasn’t til march of this year that they announced I Want to Disappear alongside the release of a second single, “Letterman”, a comparably softer song, with gentle guitars floating around a chill, syncopated beat. Both songs feature absolutely banger choruses, but they showcase the two distinct but complementary sides of the band that they would develop on the rest of the album: the livelier, punk-leaning songs (“Jump the Gun”, “Nothing to Say”, “You’re Still in My Way”) on one hand, and the ones that exist in a space closer to rock (“Keep You Around”, “White Shores”, the title track), all the time managing to inject them with great hooks. I have to give credit where credit is due, because in spite of my earlier misgivings, Parker Cannon is a vocalist with great emotional range and whose melodies across these ten songs are undeniably catchy, and although at first I thought I would like to hear these songs sung by someone else, I can now see that Parker Cannon is the one.
I Want to Disappear ends with the title track, a vulnerable ballad unlike anything else on the record, as it consists solely of Cannon’s vocals and clean guitar. The interesting thing is that it’s not at all a jarring change; it belongs alongside the rest of the songs that, despite the lively beats and driven guitars, are also built around similarly vulnerable themes. Lust and love, loss, guilt, absence, the search for comfort and forgiveness: these wouldn’t be my first answers when asked about the likely subject matter of a pop punk record, but The Story So Far are masters of their trade, and it’s a style that they long ago stopped to adhere to and started to mold to their whim. There’s an undeniable youthfulness to I Want to Disappear, but no sense of the juvenile.
