Well, who would have thought it? The Blink boys are all grown up. “Neighborhoods” is the first album from the SoCal pop/punk trio in eight years and marks a significant shift from their previous albums. Blink-182 originally grew out of the San Diego punk scene and made their name by taking the edge off punk and making it accessible for the middle of the road. But “Neighborhoods” is considerably darker than their previous offerings and has something of a pensive quality (not a word I ever thought I would use to describe Blink-182). The band has clearly evolved and the guys have matured lyrically. You can still hear the classic, catchy “blink” riffs on many of the songs, but the band has created a new, more adult sound.
The opening track, “Ghost on the Dance Floor” is a poignant song about the death of a friend and sets the tone for the rest of the album:
I saw your ghost tonight
The moment felt so real
If your eyes stay right on mine
My wounds would start to heal…”
“Up All Night” is the first single from the album and I have to admit, it took a while for me to fully appreciate it. This is not your typical radio-friendly Blink-182 tune, but it is a song that rewards repeated listening. “After Midnight” is a brooding, almost nostalgic song. It seems as if the band members are longing for the time in their youth when they could “stagger home after midnight/Sleep arm-in-arm in the stairwell” and “fall apart on the weekend.” There is a darkness in this song with lines like:
I kind of like the little rush you get
When you’re standing close to death…”
“Snake Charmer” was initially titled “Genesis,” (a nod to the references in the song to Adam and Eve) and is an angry, menacing track about the frustrations of relationships.
That’s how it was to all begin
‘Cause good girls they like to sin
Way back at the starting line
When Eve was on Adam’s mind…”
Another personal favorite is “Wishing Well” – a track full of vivid imagery, with a deceptively bouncy melody and a very catchy chorus.
“Neighborhoods” is certainly the bleakest album Blink has ever produced, and many of the lyrics were obviously influenced by serious events in the band members’ lives during the last decade (drummer Travis Barker nearly died in a 2008 plane crash), but I find the music much more intriguing as a result. Inevitably, there will be many criticisms from ardent Blink fans about this shift to a more mature style, but the band’s signature sound (characterized by double-time tempos and angsty guitar riffs) is still very much intact. It has just been enriched by greater lyrical introspection and musical sophistication (such as the pianos on “Kaleidoscope” and the violins on “Ghost on the Dancefloor”).
As a warning, there are some explicit lyrics on this album, and it may not be suitable for children under eighteen.
Check the WRL catalog for Neighborhoods
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