Even though I am going to see Wallows over the summer, I was a little nervous to hear their full-length sophomore effort. Their debut had really strong singles, but I was overall supremely disappointed by it, and I was kind of expecting the same thing here. Fear not! Tell Me That It’s Over was actually quite nice!
All of the songs they released videos for were really strong and all quite different from one another. “I Don’t Want To Talk” is damn catchy, even though I wasn’t sure about it at first. That harmonica really makes it a unique track on the record. “Especially You” has a great chorus and really reminded me of Tame Impala and Beck at different moments. That’s high praise! Kind of surprisingly, “At the End of the Day” might be my favorite of all the singles released, and it probably has to do with the 80s sound radiating off of it. I could definitely see this being used during a montage in a romantic movie. Also, the more I listen to it, the more I think of In the Valley Below’s song “Peaches.” Finally, “Marvelous” got a live footage video released the same time as the album. At first I kind of disliked this song, but after several listens, it’s a hit (gotta love the inclusion of horns)!
The rest of the album is pretty strong, and they do a great job of mixing up the vocals between Dylan and Braeden. In fact, one song I thought was sung by Cole, but I was mistaken. I know the dude can sing, though, so it wouldn’t have come off as much of a shock. I also really liked how they switched up the sound on almost every track. They also managed to incorporate a lot of different instruments that I don’t think have been utilized on their previous work. For instance, the trumpet shows up again in “Permanent Price” while a saxophone makes a welcome appearance in “Missing Out.” Overall though, I wouldn’t call out one bad song on here, but I would call out “Hurts Me” as my favorite on the record. It just screams 80s mall, and I’m here for it! The back and forth then harmonizing vocals are just great!
I’m looking forward to hearing several of these tracks when I see them later this summer, but in the meantime, I’ll just keep listening to the record!