After my spiral into obsession with Don Broco, it only makes sense now that I work backwards on their discography. That means Technology was up next! In reading about the album and listening to a handful of interviews, I knew the sound was going to be a little more polished and lean towards pop rock. That made me a little nervous, but here are my takeaways.
If you’d have asked me about my opinion after a first run-through I would have told you this was a good album, but after another listen, more tracks started to stand out, and after several more, I know all the words and can confirm these are also certified bangers! And as a fun treat, this record has 16 tracks! You almost never get that many songs, let alone good ones, from bands that aren’t strictly punk. As a whole, this album is kind of criticizing technology and fakeness, which sort of go hand in hand if you really think about it. The opening title track is the most obvious iteration of that, but “Stay Ignorant” and “Pretty” speak strongly to those themes, as well. I’m certainly inclined to agree with their takes on it, and this record came out five years ago!
Even though the record had a more polished, pop rock sound, there were still some pretty heavy riffs thrown in almost every track. That’s what sort of brought it back to that core Don Broco sound. For the songs lacking in “heaviness” (not really), there were catchy bits all over the place! Listen to “Everybody” and not sing it back to yourself at some point the rest of the day. “Come Out to LA” is by far my favorite track on the album, which more heavily features Matt’s vocals, but “Pretty” and “Greatness” are pretty close seconds. At first, the popularity of “T-shirt Song” didn’t really make sense to me, but after a second listen, it was stuck in my head. Love it. That was the case for a lot of these tracks. “Porkies” is another great example! That gritty chorus will haunt you eventually.
The rest of the album was pretty strong, and I can’t say that any of the tracks made my “no thanks” list. Aside from having great songs, there were – count ’em – eight music videos that are equally as creative as the batch that came from Amazing Things. I enjoyed the videos for “Stay Ignorant” and “The Blues” because it was more of a live footage/down time vibe, which is fun to see the band in their natural element. With that being said, I absolutely loved “Come Out to LA” and “Pretty.” Be warned that “Pretty” could be disturbing, but as one person put it in the comments “we need a full Don Broco movie.” I agree.
All of this has got me even more excited to listen to their older stuff and even more to catch them on tour next year (they promised!). Priorities is on its way to me as we speak, so look out for that review. In the meantime, go listen to Don Broco!