Abendrot
You Blew It / Abendrot / 2016 / TPC 03200
With You Blew It’s third LP release Abendrot in 2016, it had big shoes to fill after Grow Up, Dude and Keep Doing What You’re Doing. Orlando, Florida indie/emo rockers didn’t quite please the scene with Abendrot, which unfortunately eventually led to their disbandment in 2018. They stated in an online post that they were starting to see little to no turnout at shows which made it completely unprofitable and too hard for them to continue touring and funding new recording sessions. That’s not to say that Abendrot is a bad record - it’s far from it. With veterans Evan Weiss, Matt Jordan, and Adam Beck (current Into It. Over It. lineup) at the reins of production, Abendrot may be the most fully realized and mature record of the bands discography that I hope will continue to grow on listeners and carry out the bands legacy and contribution to the emo scene of the 2010’s.
Abendrot opens with Epaulette, a short but sweet homage to Tanner’s grandfather - it’s his expression of feeling like his “co-pilot on adventures” in a much more subdued tune compared to previous opener Match & Tinder off Keep Doing What You’re Doing. Following track Like Myself hits too close to home - the realization that you know somethings off with you mentally but feel that no one else can relate or feel the same as you. Sundial Song coincides it’s message with the inability to figure out who or what to blame for how you feel with a guitar part that really sings in the chorus. Greenwood is my favorite song on the record - foremost, it has the band exploring new sound textures with the addition of synthesizers, Rhodes, and piano. The song sparked from a bike ride into the Greenwood cemetery in Orlando in search of the city’s founders. Tanner mentioned upon the release of the single that the “song materialized out of the contemplation of death. I like to imagine that it doubles as a love song to the city, too. I still haven’t found that grave”. The chorus really hits the mark with a clever but sad truth, “I watch lives go by, a dash in stone to summarize” - our lives summed up to just a hyphen on a tombstone. Arrowhead is my other favorite full of lyrical brilliance and build up that surrounds the albums repeating themes of understanding one’s faults but being unsure how to change or fix them, ultimately leading to repeat mistakes being made. The tones coming from their Reverend Guitars on this one is incredible. The peak volume on this track gets my ears ringing and reminds me of exactly how they left me feeling after I saw them perform for the final time at Planet Trog in the fall of 2015.
You Blew It is Andrew Anaya, Trevor O’Hare, Andrew Vila, Matthew Nissley, and Tanner Jones. A really great “making of” video of the album posted on Triple Crown Records Youtube channel can be checked out here: You Blew It - The Making Of Abendrot