Medium Build - Country (Album Review/Hate Letter)
Yeah that's right I'm mad at this mf'er (for being so good... :/)
Dear Medium Build,
How dare you……..
My love for you has been well documented across this newsletter. From the first instance in 2020, to your recent victory at the 2023 Maxies. Taking home the highly sought-after, Artist of the Year award.
You continue to tap into these beautiful, human emotions. Exploring our collective messy feelings, letting them be as big as they are. You tell your stories, and in doing so so vulnerably, you tell ours too. And now with the release of Country, you’ve done it at the scale of an album. And you’ve gone too far!! It’s absolutely, scientifically, legally TWISTED for you to continue to do this to me time and time again.
Opening with Beach Chairs, a self-reflection, self-appreciation prayer. The chorus almost too much for me to handle. ‘Cause you ain’t shit / but I love you / You need work / but I reckon it can be done. This unrelenting kick drum helps us march on, holding this message close. As this song’s jog turns into a sprint, breaking through the three minute mark with a soaring urgency, we get a glimpse of MB’s raw emotional performances. Settling back down before it gets out of hand, leaving us on the beach, the waves of life rolling in and out. It’s a perfect introduction to the album.
Then there’s In My Room which I am so pissed off about because I CANNOT finish the song without being fully in tears. No matter how good a day I am having, this song destroys me. Obviously a deeply referential song for people my age, it’ll hit, but it so gracefully touches on topics that cut deep. Friendship, loneliness, trying to fit in, trying to figure out who we are and what we like, trying to hold it all together. It’s gorgeous. But from 1:51 and on, it’s out of hand. I am toast. I am a tiny baby just trying to make it through another day. I cry for a younger me who didn’t know himself, and didn’t know how to ask for help. I cry for a current me who deserves so much more kindness than I offer him. It’s a beautiful song that has helped me articulate these feelings in a new light. Making me a better person and shit! He can’t keep getting away with this!
Track three falls into a hazy sunset groove, his story telling back into present day, navigating the end of a relationship, trying to dissociate, getting sucked back in and forced to reckon with the pain. Of course he (I can’t decide if I’m supposed to keep up this hate mail bit and say ‘you’ here? idk) drops a pin in the second verse, his location so close to home (literal blocks) and also the site of my own depressed, heartbroken walks. Fresh air helping it all come together in my mind. Over some timeless piano (the production really elevated across the record but not in some ‘too polished’ way, just in a further-defining-and-refining-the-MB-sound way) he reaches back out, wanting for this connection to return. It ends with this plea, earnest but perhaps not the most optimistic.
The next track, Relief, grows from that moment, this first verse extrapolating on that plea, feeling like that one meme
Finally able to really describe this powerful feeling, even when it seems indescribable. God damn this song is so sweet. I am lucky to be in love. And this second verse is once again a patented MB Ripped From My Diary writing. Giving words to my own feelings in ways I hadn’t before. Layers of pain relieved by someone seeing you for who you are. I can breathe. Warming my heart and making me mad again about how good this is. A minute of outro with some guitar shredding, the I Can chant feeling like such a personal celebration. Like he’s running up to everyone in the street to tell them the good news. With a final smile from that piano, so sweet.
Cutting Thru The Country rips, but we already knew this. Emotional writing, delivered in an ever-unfurling verse. Familiar words and phrases appear, but it feels like all these stream of consciousness thoughts come pouring out in a daze. That cross country road trip will do it to you - the time spent alone, talking to yourself, the highs and the lows, it’s all of that emotion bottled. I love this one. That last moment giving me chills. Will he ever give me a fucking break?
NO. No is the answer. Knowing U Exist plucks away as you recover from the release of CTTC, a little grin on his face as he starts. Just when we thought we were safe, MB delivers one hell of a love song. I’ll be darned if this isn’t one of my friends’ first dances at their weddings soon. It’s begging to be used for it. Able to share these tiny glimpses into a relationship, from the inside jokes and silly moments, to the pure vulnerabilities and insecurities. With those strings making it all that much more dramatic, it’s a special one. I get anxious when the sun goes down, and having my partner by my side always helps me through.
That’s side one. An interlude to help us transition over to side two. Time to reflect and again be mad that even in writing this I’ve cried twice. Had to sit and really be grateful for what I have, even when my anxieties won’t let me see that. It’s what good music does. *insert some bit about me being angry about how good it is, but my love for this album making it really hard to even joke about at this point*
We flip the record and start to ROCK. Another amazing and devastating song of building love and watching it end. But this time, with a band!! So now I get to rock out while I remember my loneliest moments!!! You’re in love with someone else / someone I thought I could be / we had a real good run. Like wtf man, you gottttta be kidding me?!?!?! Simple, clear, and so moving. The layers of vocals in this chorus are amazing and genuinely cannot wait to be screaming these lyrics at shows to come. The guitar turns the corner, fuzzy and deranged and SHREDDING to close out the track.
Needing a breath, MB settles back into Hey Sandra. He’s posted a bit about it online, noting the simplicity - just an iphone demo with collaborator, Coyler, layering some atmosphere to help touch it up. MB sings through a letter to an old lover, he plays a character, but it’s one he knows well. One a lot of us do. Someone who is trying his best, has love in his heart, but sometimes gets in his own way. The memories and visions of the future both feel so lived in, so deeply real, I again must be mad at him as I start tearing up. I hear my own dad in this song. I feel like a fool to be sobbing when I hear someone say “slushy puppies” but I can’t help it… A masterful touch at 1:45, that little guitar riff somehow sounding like this promised car’s engine starting up. In the final third, we finally start to see the reality clearer. Hard times ahead, he’s scared, he’s afraid, and he’s just hoping his love might be enough. </3 a dang dagger.
After that, I need to let loose a little. Can’t Be Cool Forever offers just that. I got to see him play this song live last fall, and wouldn’t have expected this sound in the final version. Pulsing organ, chugging drums, guitars that want to take the energy even further. Reminiscent of Petey, taking on these big questions, these heavy feelings with gusto. Leaning into the emotion to get through, realizing that staying alive is a feat unto itself, and one to be proud of. The rest will fall into place however it’s meant to.
Say It Back shows MB at his most intimate and tender. Taking the leap, knowing anything could happen, but that the love he has is worth chasing. The song grows as the emotions do too, building to that arena-sized ballad - his time with Lewis Capaldi rubbing off in a beautiful way. He’s putting himself out there, come what may, bearing it all, and I’m swooning. What else can I say?
Ok we made it. The closing track. I’m out of steam. I’m raw. And then… I’m immediately refreshed by those damn saxophones. The band is in beautiful form through this one, the guitars are sick, the drums with a little echo, the horns, piano too. Adore the arrangement. The song feels tied to Relief too - finding this connection that frees him from what’s holding him back. Verse two has maybe my favorite lyric of the record with When you told me I didn’t have to be someone / well, I cried like a homesick child / ‘Cause I’m SO IN LOVE / and I’m SO DAMN TIRED. This is screaming along in the car music if I’ve ever heard it. The piano returns, building the song up from the ground. And as his wishes come true, so do mine - this is what I love in a song. As the ‘Oh my little, little lie’ section ends, the sax is back and strong as hell. Bravely coloring this bridge sick little runs all over the place. The song climaxes as the refrain returns, and again I love it. The repetition giving time to get weird with it, new melodies, sneaky harmonies, his delivery ebbing and flowing, it’s so sick!!! Sorry I love it!!! I forgot this whole thing was me pretending to be mad!!
Ugh, love this album, love Medium Build. Grateful for music that touches my soul and teaches me more about myself.
xoxo,
max