Ungrateful Little String Band "Tired of Being Relevant" Album Review
Review by: Lucas Kurmis, Writer @KurmisTheFrog
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner/Editor @melodicnoisemedia
If you like what we are doing please consider supporting us on Patreon, PayPal, or Venmo.
What have I been listening to?
If anyone asked me what I’ve been listening to most lately, I’d excitedly tell them about Ungrateful Little String Band’s Tired of Being Relevant. There’s so much going on in this folk-punk powerhouse album that one write-up cannot even do it justice, but I want to point out some of the things I’d say to anyone who’d ask.
An apt title
What does it mean to be tired of being relevant? This album confronts the reality that the news these days is tiring, and to be made irrelevant would mean that the issues discussed are fixed, or at least better. Rather, we are living in tiresome times, dark times, perhaps even the end times, as Ben Tye asserts in the opening song named “End Times.” Izzy adds that sentiment in “A Disorganized Pile of Fecal Poo” with the lyric, “Wow, I feel like shit and it’s really been a while / It feels like all the shitty things just pile and pile and pile.” But It’s not just that things are shitty, but pointing it out is itself tiresome. “I always complain about the same old shit / I imagine everybody’s really sick of hearing about it.”
Not only is the band tired, but they imagine they’re tiring out those around them as well. We see a hostile world throughout the album, like Ben calling the world “ugly and mean,” or Izzy pointing out that “lots of people seem to have unhelpful views.” This might be Ungrateful Little String Band’s most conceptually tight album, with songs that seem to talk to each other and explore this harsh relevance of what we’re all living in right now.
You can beat the odds
While yes, Ungrateful Little String Band paints a grim picture of the world, the album is actually very empowering and hopeful. The song “YoYo” paints a picture of self-confidence in love, saying “My heart is not a yo-yo/you can’t put it on a string” and “it’s not coming back around.” Izzy, too, sings out encouragement throughout “Gatekeepers.” They begin the song saying, “You can beat the odds,” and they end the song cheering out, “They are damned / They are lost / You, my friend / Can’t be stopped.” Not only is this self-affirming, but musically, it fucking rocks. I want to headbang every time I hear it.
Musical range
While this album is extremely cohesive, it also has a lot of range. At times, it has those head-bobbing, rocky moments, but there are quiet and close moments as well with songs like “Boots” and “Delicate Little Flower.” The album has Ungrateful Little String Band’s signature folk-punk sound, but within that sound, there are upbeat fun songs like “Meteor” and more serious songs like “End Times” and “Bricks and Wood.” “Boots” even has some country influences with a lap steel guitar intro.
References and influences
Another wonderful element worth pointing out is the abundance of references and nods to the past in this album. We have “YoYo” referencing “Chains” by Gerry Goffin and Carole King (popularized by The Beatles), and sort of inverting it. Right after that, we have “Manic Pixie Dream Friend” talking about a friend wanting a “Disney style fairy guardian,” but Izzy then corrects this friend with the traditional depiction of a fairy who will “make mischief and fuck with fools,” which is more in line with a fairy in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” or older folklore.
Meteor in particular
Not to play favorites or get too bogged down with individual track reviews, but I think Meteor may be one of my favorites from the band’s whole discography. It’s a song that sounds fun and upbeat while also entertaining the idea that an earth-shattering meteor might be a comforting way out, where we don’t have to live, but our loved ones wouldn’t have to live without us either. It’s a song that’s both upbeat and energetic and tragic when you really think about it. This is only one song of a whole album filled with depth and abundance of exploration of each song concept, with the main themes of the album always in mind.
Playfulness and whimsy
Even while discussing heavy concepts and staring the darkness that we’re all living under right now in its face, there is a sense of playfulness throughout the songs, lyrically and musically. I first think of “A Disorganized Pile of Fecal Poo,” and how Izzy sings “the shitty things just pile and pile and pile” with the rest of the band chiming in, piling on their own “pile and pile and pile” off-beat and creating this piling, overwhelming shout chorus that plays with and echoes the main point of the song. I also think about “YoYo” and how the chorus “yo-yo’s” back after each verse, after the bridge, and then even after a sort of fake-out ending where the lyrics end, but then Ben counts “2, 3, 4” and we get one final round of instrumentals giving a final instrumental chorus. I think moments like these help the album to have so much more range and staying power.
What are you listening to?
With all that in mind, I feel like I only pierced a small chunk of everything this album has to offer. I highly recommend listening to this, especially if you like Defiance, Ohio style folk-punk, or even if you just need something to cope with all the shitty things piling on today. This album tells you that things are hard, but it’s also confident that you can beat the odds.
You can stream Tired of Being Relevant on all platforms and/or buy it on Bandcamp and you can follow Ungrateful Little String band on Instagream..
