By EMILY PAOLICELLI
Co-Executive Editor
The Neighbourhood, an alternative band based in California, released their newest album “Chip Chrome and the Mono-Tones” on Sept. 25, 2020. After a two-year wait following their last album, I was eager to listen to this new album. The EP they released over the summer was promising, featuring four songs that appeared on “Chip Chrome,” and ultimately led to a pretty big let-down once I heard the full-length album.
The album, after the 30 second introduction titled “Chip Chrome,” begins with “Pretty Boy,” a slow-paced, hazy-sounding song that was released on Aug. 28 on an EP of the same name. The video was especially impressive considering the entire thing was filmed during quarantine. The aesthetic that the album follows is introduced in the video: lead singer Jesse Rutherford appears in a silver suit, painted head to toe with silver body paint, clearly taking inspiration from David Bowie. This Bowie-like appearance establishes the character Chip Chrome, who appears to be the narrator of the album.
The song that follows, “Lost in Translation,” is much more upbeat than “Pretty Boy,” but doesn’t lose its connection to the first track. It’s clear that they’re both part of the same work, and both pieces contain the Neighbourhood sound that fans are accustomed to. The same can be said for the next track, “Devil’s Advocate,” which is another more upbeat piece with a catchy, repetitive guitar line.
Following this track is where I begun to get a little lost. “Hell or High Water” is a piece with upfront and clear lyrics that make sense. The instrumentation is a bit out of place, especially when following the previous four tracks. The music takes on a sort of western vibe, which doesn’t entirely match the established aesthetic of the album.
After “Hell or High Water” comes “Cherry Flavoured,” another track that appeared on the “Pretty Boy” EP. This track takes its time and leaves me wishing it would move just a bit faster or just a bit slower; it’s in a sweet spot where I get bored easily. However, the instrumentation and lyrics return to the feel that was established in the first four tracks, which brings back the coherence of the album as a complete piece of work, but makes “Hell or High Water” stick out even more like a sore thumb than it already did.
“The Mono-Tones,” which follows “Cherry Flavoured,” acts as a short intermission, clocking in at just over a minute long. The lyrics are sung by Rutherford, though his voice is pitched up quite a bit and sounds very feminine. This left me with some questions, especially given the lyrics. “Boys, boys, boys, boys, boys/Voices in my head tellin’ me to make a choice/Everyone yellin’ makin’ too much noise/I can’t hear myself anymore” is repeated four times, expressing that Rutherford (or perhaps Chip Chrome) is very frustrated with these “boys” in question, a sentiment that may take more weight when coming from a character that is meant to be more feminine.
“BooHoo,” the next track, begins with a bit more of that western vibe that we saw earlier in “Hell or High Water,” but doesn’t maintain it long enough for it to become a strong, recurring theme in the album. The last four tracks of the album are all enjoyable, but nothing that I am eager to place on repeat. They each have their individual sounds, but are all similar enough that they tie in with the beginning of the album. “Middle of Somewhere,” although it feels like a bit of a cliffhanger, is a good send-off to the listener.
I consider the album to be a good listen because of the many individual tracks that I absolutely adore, but an album needs to be more than the sum or their parts, and I don’t think this one is. The album has trouble establishing and following one theme, often jumping from one piece with one distinct sound to another piece with a completely different sound. I am, however, excited to find out if this is the last of Chip Chrome, or if he will be making an appearance in future works.
