Creating art comes at a cost. Not so much financial, but physical and mental. It is all too common for artists to face health issues, and a lack of motivation that leads to faltering relationships with their chosen crafts. It can be enough for some to say “no more,” and throw the towel in. Los Angeles-based Sad Park weaponized that sentiment on their latest album, NO MORE SOUND. This tertiary release is the band’s first with Pure Noise Records, and it packs a punch, concentrating the band’s toils with being creatives, or otherwise human, into its thirty-eight-minute run.
Sad Park’s sound can, fittingly, be described as “sad punk.” They possess all the intensity of the genre but through a more subdued delivery. The result is a less in-your-face style of punk with all the catharsis. The band also draws from genres like emo, indie, and even ska, making for an eclectic release. Some of the album’s magic comes from its production, courtesy of Sean Bonnette from AJJ, and their specific musical inspirations within the alternative music scene. Vocalist and guitarist Graham Steele went into detail, stating:
“With our previous records, I was listening to a lot of bands and then trying to write like them, like ‘We really like FIDLAR and Together Pangea, so we're going to write music that really sounds like that.’ This album feels a lot more like us as a band, like really sitting down and writing whatever was in us. It’s the first album where we found what our sound is as individual musicians.”
NO MORE SOUND takes listeners on a ride down an ever-twisting road, with tracks ranging in magnitude. The album opens with ‘NO MORE SONGS,’ a stripped-down acoustic ballad with a twist, ramping up its vocal power and transitioning to electric guitars by the very end before delving into ‘ALWAYS AROUND.’ The premiere single for this record cycle, ‘ALWAYS AROUND’ is layered and multifaceted, seamlessly combining a melodic and hooky chorus with Steele’s pinched vocal style. Paired alongside ‘ALWAYS AROUND’ is the poignant ‘OMW!’, complete with high-octane guitars, courtesy of Steele and Aidan Memory, and exhilarating screamed vocals, accompanied by bassist and vocalist Sam Morton. ‘WATCH THE WORLD FALL DOWN’ and ‘THE NEW SLOW’ have an Americana, old-school-rock feel to them, with warm instrumentation that either contrasts or enhances the subject matter. Grant Bubar’s drumming is a standout throughout the album, even at its most minimal, such as on the track ‘CAROUSEL.’
NO MORE SOUND is something of a circular record, telling a story that spans each of its songs. ‘NO MORE SONGS’ lays the groundwork for the record, and may also serve as the resolution to NO MORE SOUND. The song possesses some of the heaviest lyricism on the record before lightening up by the last tracks; an intentional move on the band’s part. Steele had to say of the record’s structure:
“I wanted you to really hear the song’s darker lyrics in the beginning … then once you hear them again at the end, there's maybe some sense of hope—a sense that you’ve kind of gone through something and have learned something from it. So once you get to the end, those lyrics take on a little bit of a different meaning. This was the first album where we really thought through everything and tried to create some sort of story.”
NO MORE SOUND is existential, portraying feelings of absolutist hopelessness within the artistic sphere, and the personal. It laments the passage of time while being stuck in-between two goals, or phases in life. ‘OMW!’ portrays this best, with the repetition of “I’m always on my way” throughout it. Trying to progress towards a goal, and the desire to be remembered positively, or at all, especially as an artist, causes frustration when the journey isn’t going smoothly, and the stellar ‘DEATH’ and ‘NO MORE SOUND’ embody this. ‘DEATH,’ while pondering the relative swiftness of its namesake, encourages others to embrace their loved ones before they pass, or before it’s too late. ‘NO MORE SOUND’s’ lyrics circle back to ‘NO MORE SONGS,’ employing a grand tone to accompany the feelings of inadequacy, but now recognizing the power and fulfillment one may get from interpersonal relationships (“please let me stay here with you” … “don’t go / stay here with me”). The album takes on a more positive tone by the end, however, its cyclical nature indicates that one might fall into the trap of hopelessness again and again.
NO MORE SOUND is a feat from Sad Park, one they have recognized as well. To quote Steele:
“It feels, for the first time, like I'm like playing in my favorite band. I get to play and sing in the band that's writing the music that I've always wanted to hear. So I hope there's somebody that really needs this album and they get to hear it.”
The album might be titled NO MORE SOUND, but its messages about human strife can be heard loud and clear in the lyrics and instrumentation, making for a truly resonant record.
