Persona

I am very late to the party on this one. Not sure why or how I missed this back in 2024, as "Conditions Of A Punk" was very solid in my book. Regardless, I finally got around to this, and I'm kicking myself for not listening to it sooner. There is some absolutely stunning song design, production, and songwriting through and through on here. They have always been a band that integrates synths into their slightly indie-pop-rock style heavily, but this album features what will probably end up being one of my favorite mixtures of this with "People". I'll get into the specifics later in the review, but that song caught me off guard in the best way possible. One downside to this was that the songs that weren't great sounded like the great ones. Now this may sound confusing, but hear me out. As standalone songs, those "not great" ones are good, and I would likely listen to them frequently; however, they don't differ enough from the really standout tracks on here and therefore fall short in quality. If they had pushed their boundaries slightly further, this would be a near-perfect album for me. The only other issue is the mastering. I mean, yikes, it was not good. It's not something that I think dictates the quality of the album as a whole, because I don't mind adjusting the volume a little here and there. However, I can understand why this might be more of an issue for others. Diving into the songwriting is like an ocean here. It's very personal and self-reflective, which is always lovely to see the inner workings and thoughts of an artist. His choice of words isn't anything verbose or grand, but at times feels conversational, and at others is a puzzle for the listener to decipher. It's not very complex, though, or left to a ton of interpretation. In my eyes, good songwriting is done in several ways, but one of my favorites is when songs are written cryptically, but there are enough clues to find the true meaning with no room for confusion. Incredibly difficult to pull off, but Half Alive does this well at multiple points. Gorgeous guitars to soothing synths, this album has taken the reins of pop-rock production and made it its bitch. "Automatic" features this entirely out-of-left-field guitar mixing on the chorus that you wouldn't expect from them whatsoever. It's not aggressive but is intense. The distortion built into the chorus of the song ensures that it never gets dull either. "Long Drive" utilizes Kacy Hill in a precise manner. While she does have a decent amount of front vocals, the real treat with her on here is the backing vocals on the choruses. At first, you can hear her reverberating in and out, but it doesn't really come into full effect until the last chorus, when you can listen to her voice breathing life into a speedy and smooth song with production that sounds like walking on clouds. The real star of the show is "People". The instrumental mixing and choices are beautiful, along with the do-dos that start the song off. The chorus sounds pretty strong while remaining catchy with a sunny guitar strum. Then those synths hit. A completely unexpected change in pace, but it works perfectly. When it returns to its original style, it just makes it hit so much harder. Although I'd rather not, because the highs on this album are so high, the lows do need to be addressed. I do wish that "All My Love", "The Point", and "Songs" did stick out a bit more. I mentioned earlier that they aren't bad in any way, but when you have some heavy hitters doing the same thing but better, it may be good to branch out in some way, shape, or form. This is probably just a mindset that people have when they know they have some 10/10 tracks that use the same style, and most conscious artists don't have the same mentality about their music. It's understandable why they choose to go with these, and they are good, just not as noticeable as some others. The mastering, though. I struggle to dock "points" from an album because of bad mastering, so when I have to bring it up in a review, it must be pretty bad. The mastering on here makes me question whether they even listened back afterwards, or just sent it full speed ahead after processing it through an AI tool. Who knows. Songs change in volume significantly from track to track, but if this doesn't bother you much, as it doesn't bother me much, the album should be delightful then.