When optimism is hard to come by.
Spanish Love Songs entered the 2020s with one of the decade's best and most emblematic albums, Brave Faces, Everyone. Six years, another album and an EP on from that project, the Californian quintet return with their fifth studio album, Future Nausea. The record, released November 6th via Pure Noise Records, is a very well-put together, consistent body of work which does well to show off the band’s creativity and emotional sensibilities.
Of the band’s previous work, the central sound of this album has remained most stylistically consistent with their last LP, No Joy, bringing to the table a deeply melancholic modern, synth-infused iteration of heartland rock. Drawing from the band’s previous, more pop-punk leaning music, the guitars are somewhat more prominent on Future Nausea than on the band’s output of the last 3 years, with some particularly memorable licks on tracks like Shadowland or Future Nausea Pt. 2, and the guitar parts overall adding an extra feeling of musical complexity to the record, as well as giving the project an extra degree of bite and impact instrumentally. The soundscape is shimmering and nostalgic, with rich guitar tones and solid synth textures making up the bulk of the instrumentation, which gives the album a great foundation to build on.
And on top of that foundation, frontman Dylan Slocum delivers his signature ruthless lyrical honesty, painting a gnawingly bleak picture of modern living and the prospect of the future. Among other highlights such as “Welcome To Hell”, “Shadowland” or “New Fears”, the lead single “Good American” is probably the best representation of the album’s outlook, with lines like “Every day is a mountain when you can’t tell which disaster to ignore”, “Every day is a question when you were born in the age of decline” or “As the city’s burning down, all I hope is you can finally see the moon” cutting particularly deep and being a sign of what to expect from the record.
The writing is overall the album’s strongest suit, as has been the case for the band’s discography in general, with even its shortest and most interlude-like song “Jan666” still managing to paint a focused, vivid lyrical picture. The album is easy for a lot of people to relate to, particularly in the United States, and makes plenty of contemporary references to modern-day issues and phenomena. Crucially, though, the lyrics manage to avoid feeling instantly dated or tied inherently to only the present day. Slocum’s vocals are more refined than ever, while still retaining enough of his usual raw sincerity to not dampen the emotional impact and connection of the record. His unique sense for melodies and specific catchy moments is on full display, too, with plenty of parts sticking with you even on first listen.
Overall, Future Nausea is another very solid entry into the discography of one of the most consistently quality bands of the 2020s. It’s an album with a rich, compelling soundscape and great production, strong, poignant lyrical content, solid vocal performances and a captivating atmosphere. It’s arguably one of the year’s strongest releases, and certainly one of the albums that best represents the time it’s released in.
8.1/10
