★★★
Since 2011, everyone’s been waiting for a spiritual follow-up to Joyce Manor’s energetic self-titled debut.
The songs were fast and short, with the emotive punk energy of Jawbreaker and the lo-fi vibe and soul of Royal Headache. While that first record was firmly planted in the melodic punk/emo style, the raw punk energy set it apart from the genre’s explosive revival.
Cody, their fourth full-length, continues Joyce Manor’s path directly into clean radio rock territory. Takes are tight, production is slick, and arguably more effort has been put into managing a cohesive level of sonic safety and comfort within the realm of guitar- and vocal-driven indie-emo.
While the Californians have always been fans of a solid pop hook, the overall performance on many of Cody’s tracks treads dangerously close to radio-ready Weezer or Jimmy Eat World hits. This is fine in and of itself, but the band’s originality and edge is showing signs of struggle, especially when a dangerously saturated market of a whole new generation of artists is currently emerging on those early 2000s emo influences.
The songwriting is up to scratch, but Joyce Manor are clearly facing the age-old problem of simply getting too technically proficient and falling into a comfort zone.
Joyce Manor’sCodyis out on Epitaph now.
