Pillow Fort - Indefinite, But Not Forever
Album Review
GROWING UP SUCKS, BUT THIS ALBUM DOESN'T!
Nottingham-based three-piece alt-emo band Pilllow Fort brings nostalgia and crazy good technical ability on their debut album Indefinite, but not Forever.
The album as a whole plays on the themes of change, growing up and eventually moving on; the sense of nostalgia from this album is fully encapsulated by the band releasing an accompanying Game Boy Advance rhythm game, developed by guitarist Ryan Crick. It serves as a physical manifestation of the themes scattered across the album; the band is not just writing music about the past and moving on, but they give fans something which they can hold on to as a token of their own youth.
The intricate guitar work, which anchors the whole record, doesn’t just show their math rock chops; it also mirrors the anxieties and emotional highs and lows of your twenties. Throughout the whole album, the group’s instrumentals work together with the emotional, scratchy vocals to create the perfect ‘emo soup’, as self-described.
Ryan’s guitar work throughout the record is a perfect example of pop-punk controlled chaos; between jangly open-tuned riffs and frantic energy, the band keeps the listeners on their toes the whole time. This is accompanied by Sam Rodmell’s hyperactive drum beats and Isaac Peacock’s anchoring but gritty bass. The trio works together in a symphony of young adult angst.
This energy is encapsulated in their three lead singles, starting with “Codename Kids Next Year”. The track and music video capture the vibe of coming into your own, rejecting expectations and the crippling anxiety which comes with that. Lines like "And I'll never take your advice / Cause nothing you say is right" capture the frustration of being misunderstood, while the refrain "And I'm in a hurry... to pick up the rest of my life” shows the pressure which is put on ourselves as our twenties come to an end.
Their second single, "Robots vs Wrestlers", takes on hyper-specific nostalgia moments with lyrics like “You've collected every box set DVD /Of all your favourite shows” and “It's like that episode of How I Met Your Mother/When Ted fucked up Victoria cause he could've had another” and uses them to describe self-sabotage in a budding relationship. The overlapping vocals perfectly show what this insecurity feels and sounds like; it's a great emotional track, and we can see exactly why it was picked as one of the singles.
My personal highlight of the album is actually the closing track “Marcy”, unlike the bright and upbeat songs mentioned above, “Marcy” shows the true existential dread that each and every one of us has felt in the middle of the night while thinking about everything which we have ever done wrong. The grating, screamed lyrics of “I find it hard to sleep at night/Alone and with my thoughts” truly convey the raw emotion of these nights.
The album as a whole features a perfect mix of upbeat pop-punky tunes and emotionally heavy emo ballads; it is a perfect debut album for Pillow Fort, and it cements them as an explosive band to keep an eye on.
Review by Alex Velikova
Album available on Soundcloud and Spotify
For fans of: Hot Mulligan, Arm’s Length and Origami Angel