Hello, everyone! Welcome back to another mini review post! As always, these reviews are about how I personally feel. I’m not trying to tell anyone what’s ‘objectively good’, ‘objectively bad’, or anything like that. Music is subjective. Also, nothing here is meant as an attempt to be mean or anything, even if the review is negative … I’m just some guy writing about how much or how little I like these albums and why.

Also, I won’t be going into a ton of detail on these albums, because they are mini reviews. Anyway, let’s get the reviews started!

Outside Problems by Andrew Bird:

So, I was already getting ready to write this review when I found out this might be an EP … I can’t tell if it’s officially an EP or an album, but I guess I’ll include it here anyway … I mean, it’s over forty minutes long, and it’s nine tracks, so it feels more like an album than an EP.

But even though I only include official studio albums on my year-end lists, I won’t have to worry about that here because I don’t feel really strongly one way or the other about this album. I mean, it’s mostly pleasant while it’s on, but it just doesn’t give me much to say.

The mixing sounds pretty good for the most part, and I like some of the melodies, but as a whole it just doesn’t make me want to go back to it.

I do like the strings in “Mo Teef” and the guitar (at least I think it’s a guitar) and strings in “Festivus”, and there are some other moments I like here, too, but it rarely if ever really wows me personally. That’s not to say it isn’t well put together, it’s just that it doesn’t really click for me considering my personal taste in music.

If you’re a huge fan of mellow, instrumental music, you might like it more than I did … but for me personally, I’ll give it a 6/10. At least I like how the bass sounds.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Festivus”, “Mo Teef”, “Tik Tok”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Mancey”

Good Living Is Coming For You by Sweeping Promises:

I saw this album described as post-punk, and as a fan of post-punk I was really excited to hear it!

And unfortunately, this was a huge disappointment … not only do the vocal melodies feel really one-note (I think this is the wording I’m looking for?), but the production really holds the album back for me. It sounds so foggy, and it gives these songs a lot less punch. And it’s not like I really love the instrumentation anyway.

Personally, I don’t find the lyrics all that interesting, but I’m not as much of a lyrics guy as a lot of critics. I’m not saying the lyrics aren’t interesting, just that they didn’t really grab me personally.

I mean, at least the album is short, but this did pretty much nothing for me, and at points it gets really annoying.

I mean, if you love post-punk, you might like this, but even as a post-punk fan myself, I can’t say it’s for me at all. I’m going to give it a 3.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Good Living Is Coming for You”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Walk in Place”, “You Shatter”, “Can’t Hide It”, “Throw of the Dice”

I Inside the Old Year Dying by PJ Harvey:

Singer-songwriter PJ Harvey is back with her first official studio album in over seven years, and she’s one of those artists whose name I’ve seen on the internet a lot, but whom I haven’t really listened to much. But I decided to check out this new album, and …

Well, I don’t fully understand it. And that can be said about most albums I review, considering I’m not that much of a lyrics person, but especially in this case because I don’t know Dorset dialect. But I found some of the translations, and I do find the album fascinating … but it’s just not fully clicking for me for some reason.

I really like the vocals here, and I also really like the vocal effect used in “The Nether-edge”, and there are a lot of instrumentals here I really like, and I like a lot of the vocal melodies, but something just feels missing to me, even outside of me just not fully understanding it.

Still, though, I do really like a lot of the lyrics I do understand (or at least kind of understand), and I like a lot of the mystery in the lyrics. I think it’s an album I’m more fascinated by than one I actually love.

I don’t want to say this isn’t a great album, because even though I’m just sharing my personal feelings on these albums and not trying to be ‘objective’ (I mean, quality of music isn’t even objective), I still feel like this deserves a higher rating, but for me it’s a 7.5/10 if I’m being honest. I definitely like it, but I don’t love it. It’s not totally my cup of tea, but I highly recommend you listen to it if you haven’t already!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Autumn Term”, “Lwonesome Tonight”, “The Nether-edge”, “A Child’s Question, July”
Least Favourite Tracks: “All Souls”

Inevitable by None:

This metal band got a lot of critical acclaim for their 2019 album which I still haven’t listened to, but this new album has also been getting quite a bit of acclaim.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that I didn’t find very many of the lyrics when I looked them up, so I can’t really comment on that, but I still wanted to review this … and while I wouldn’t say I love it, I did mostly end up enjoying it.

There’s a lot of great guitar distortion, and the vocals sound great! I also like the variety in the sound, but something feels missing for me in the album’s sound, and I can’t quite tell what.

I guess maybe it’s just that, of all the metal albums out there that I’ve heard, I didn’t find a ton here that really makes me want to go back to this one specifically. That’s not to say I won’t ever go back to it, just that I don’t think I’ll go back to it often … overall, I mostly like it, but again, something feels missing to me … maybe something in the mixing? I’m not fully sure. But I’ll still give it a 7/10. If you’re into black metal, I think it’s worth a listen.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Alone, Where I Can See”, “My Gift”, “Rest”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Never Came Home”

Disenchanter by Alaska Reid:

This is Alaska Reid’s debut studio album, although it’s just barely longer than her 2020 EP, Big Bunny, which I haven’t listened to yet. Anyway, is this a good first impression?

Well … kind of. It makes me curious to hear more music from her in the future, but I can’t say this really clicked for me.

I like a lot of the lyrics here, a lot of which are very nostalgic, and I mostly like the vocals—although I’m not a big fan of the more whispered delivery at points here—and the snares sound good for the most part, although the closing track features a snare that sounds kind of awkwardly … hollow?

Overall, though … I don’t know what it is that’s holding me back from liking this more. I mean, I think part of it is that a lot of the vocal melodies don’t really work for me, and a lot of these songs feel like they’re missing something in the production or instrumentation, and I can’t quite tell what. I’m going to give this album a 6/10, but more for the lack of low points than really strong high-points, because I don’t really love any individual song here … I found it consistently pretty good or at least decent, but I rarely found anything that really wowed me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Palomino”, “Back To This”, “Always”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Arctic Heart”

Dead Club City by Nothing But Thieves:

This is the fourth studio album from Nothing But Thieves, a band whose name I’ve seen/heard a lot, but I haven’t listened to a ton of their music. But I decided to check out this new album of theirs, and …

Well, it’s not really for me. The production often sounds too airy for my liking, and a lot of the vocal melodies just don’t do much for me at all.

Some of these songs I find really annoying, like “Keeping You Around” which has a really annoying vocal effect, and to me that track sounds like a bad Bastille song. Also, I do find the chorus of “City Haunts” very annoying, too.

I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the snares here, with quite a few of them sounding overpowering to me.

Overall, it just often feels like something’s missing here to make these songs click for me more, and outside of “Overcome” there’s not much here that makes me want to go back to the album. So, for me, it’s a 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Overcome”, “Pop The Balloon”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Keeping You Around”, “City Haunts”