Songs Only You’ll Understand - REVIEW
By: Trevor Skarie
Courtesy - Songs Only You’ll Understand
Wisconsin 4-piece, Courtesy brings raw power and emotion to their first release with Dirty Laundry Records (MN), Songs Only You’ll Understand. Guitarist and vocalist, Noah, says it’s the most honest and real they’ve been on a record to date. Its personal, its emotional, its abrasive, its soothing, it makes you feel a little more human after each spin. Composed of 7 tracks and a total runtime of 30 minutes, Courtesy embraces a delicate balance of beauty and pain in a way that leaves you with a euphoric feeling and a pounding heart.
FFO: Nirvana, Haken, and My Chemical Romance
Released September 8th, 2021. Written and performed by Courtesy. Engineered and produced by Tim King (LVNDR Sound Studio). Promotion and distribution in collaboration with Dirty Laundry Records.
The album opens with a nostalgic-feeling stripped-down track with just a single acoustic guitar and Charlie’s smooth voice, wishing for the rain to fall down again. A light mid-tempo sing-along track that leads us into a jarring and booming second track titled, Ethan. Full band, full volume, fast, loud, the kind of track that makes you wanna kick over the nearest trash can and scream into someone's face. The dissonant tone of the double panned guitars paired with the grit of the bass and the punch of the drums makes this album sound sonically huge and slightly dizzying.
Track three, Fence, brings the energy down a little with another mid-tempo track with wet, dreamy, ominous sounding guitars, a driving bass groove, and a snare with a crack that gives this track it’s attitude. It’s got doom written all over it but still has a sense of magic to it. Cindy, the fourth track on this record feels dreary yet comforting, much like a rainy sunday when you’re stuck at home alone. It’s the slowest song on the record but the chords really hit home, especially when paired with Noah’s straight-from-the-heart lyrics. Track five brings back the grit with high-gain guitars and a desperate attempt to calm an aching heart. The guitar leads in this track might be my favorite on this whole record, the slow decline in the outro with rich, sharp progressions really cut through me.
Track 6 is a standout track for me. It's super heavy, super abrasive and it cuts right to the bone. Noah’s lyricism is incredibly honest which makes it easy to relate to. This is true throughout this whole record but I feel especially so in this track. It’s catchy and it just feels real. For a five and half minute closing track, this song really pulls you in, always changing dynamically and steadily building for a powerful outro.
Overall I am thoroughly obsessed with this record. I’ve listened to it more times than I can count at this point but it never gets old. It doesn’t really matter what mood I’m in either because this record spans such a wide range of feelings that I can always find a new moment to connect to everytime I listen through it. If you like anything fast, punk, emo, and/or grungy, this is a record for you.
DISCLAIMER: Please remember this an opinion piece only. All the views and points discussed are of the writer’s only.