It’s been almost a month since AJR’s new album, “Neotheater” was released on April 26, and I’m finally free of schoolwork for a bit so it’s time to sit down and talk about this amazing album.
This is the third album from their group, their first being “Living Room” which was released in 2015, and “The Click” which came out in 2017.
The word “neo” is defined as “new, or revived form of,” and “theater” can be defined as “a play or other activity or presentation considered in terms of its dramatic quality.” It’s a new/revived theater performance, and I believe that they have achieved that idea.
As a whole, this album seems to show the growth this group has had since their first two albums, and the content of the songs also reflect that, with the themes of many songs talking about growth and uncertainty.
Both their two previous albums started with a song titles “Overture,” which has bits and pieces of all the songs in their albums “Living Room” and “The Click.” “Neotheater, however, does not do that, and instead listeners can pick up melodies and lyrics from certain songs placed in different songs in the album.
The album start with “Next Up Forever,” which has a beautiful orchestral chorus, and this orchestra theme continues throughout the album in many different ways, which helps show the theater part of “Neotheater.”
“Birthday Party” and “100 Bad Days” are two great songs that talk about how life is today to individuals, and “100 Bad Days” goes just a little bit further with it by talking about how the bad feelings from the bad days can eventually be ignored and become a fun story. It also has one of the most insane music videos I’ve seen in a while.
I think my favorite songs from this album are “Don’t Throw Out My Legos” which talk about getting older without having to grow up, and “The Entertainment’s Here” which describes how it is sometimes very hard to distract yourself from emotional, distressing thoughts, but you don’t have to always be. “Don’t Throw Out My Legos” is really fun to me not just because of the serious topic in the lyrics, but also because of the orchestra stock audio that’s used at the beginning.
“Finale (I Can’t Wait To See What You Do Next)” wraps up the album by following the theme on “Next Up Forever” and brings the singing chorus back once more to help conclude the album. I’ve personally interpreted them as their idea of the audience who is listening to them, hence the lyrics “We can’t wait to see what you do next.”
There’s many other great songs in this album, but those are probably my favorites. If there’s one you really like that I haven’t mentioned, feel free to let me know and talk about it.
I think I can genuinely say that this is one of my favorite albums of the year. I listened to it on Spotify first, but immediately went to purchase it. They’re doing a tour for their album this year (which I most likely won’t be able to go to) and it’s exciting to think about what crazy things they could do for each song on stage. It’s a “theater” so they’re bound to do something intense.
I’ll probably be listening to this album all year because that’s just the way I am, and if they end up making a fourth album someday, I’ll probably listen to that for a long time as well.
Kristopher K. Online 