PUP’s “THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND” [Review]
I’m failing upwards again
After reviewing PUP’s “This Place Sucks Ass” EP last week, I wanted to celebrate the 1-year-anniversary of the band’s 4th studio album, “THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND”. This was the album that actually got me listening to PUP and I’m glad I did. While I did pick up “Morbid Stuff” back when it was released, I never really paid it too much attention. My love for vinyl records, however, and the beauty of the limited edition of this record drew me in. After that, I gave the band’s discography a listen and I’ve been a huge fan since.
Releasing on April 1st, 2022, “THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND” debuted with very positive reviews.
This album imagines PUP not as a band, but as a corporation, with the band members acting as the board of directors. The idea for this comes from the fact that PUP is no longer just a group of four guys touring all the time and making music, but a group of people who have families, financial advisers, accountants, and managers. Another concept that comes to mind is that the band is also having somewhat of an identity crisis as well, growing up from their roots as a small band to one that has an incredible foothold in the pop-punk scene.
One of the goals with this album was to make it sound as if the band was playing the best live show that they could, something that can be heard on their live EP “PUP Unravels Live In Front Of Everyone They Know”. Starting off that EP, and this album as well, is the track “Four Chords”. In an interview with RollingStone, lead singer Stefan Babcock says that he originally recorded this song as a joke with the title “Stupid Song For My Stupid Friends”. It was only after the band was wrapping up the recording of this album that bassist Nestor Chumak brought up this track and was able to convince Stefan to properly record it. Because of this, the band started to add more synths and horns throughout the record. The thing about this song and this record, in general, is that PUP has never used a piano in any of the band’s music before, let alone horns or synthesizers. The song itself goes into depth about how Babcock purchased a piano with the last of the money granted to them by the music label, while he only just got it, he’s learned four chords which should be enough to make some kind of music. The ballad continues pretty delicately until about halfway through the song where as soon as he strikes the wrong key, the rest of the band erupts into a beautiful distorted mess of violent guitars, drums, and synths.
As “Four Chords” closes, it leads directly into the next track, “Totally Fine”, something we saw happen on the band’s sophomore album, “The Dream Is Over”. In the press release for the song, Babcock explains that “Totally Fine” came after a long creative drought, with the band’s “pent up frustration all smashed into this one song”. The band sounds as if they’re about to fall apart at any second which is the most PUP thing they can do. This might be one of the loudest and most distorted songs that PUP has ever released, with such aggressive guitars and drums, but that’s the appeal of the record. The identity crisis theme of the band comes across in this track as the band “has everything they need”, but still feels like they’re slowly dying, trying to figure out if they’re at their worst, or totally fine.
“Robot Writes A Love Song” is a love song that’s pretty unique in multiple ways. While many of the songs from the band’s discography are written from Babcock’s perspective, this one is not. While he was initially trying to write a love song that was earnest and heartfelt, it didn’t feel right, but as soon as he changed that to one of a robot, something that is unique in itself, the song came together. Initially, the song didn’t have much of a humorous aspect to it, but that all changed when it was written to be from the point of view of a robot. While the lyrics are incredibly funny if you know a lot about computers, the guitar is the real highlight of this track.
Keeping the train rolling with the unique songs, “Matilda” is a song about Babcock’s guitar. On PUP’s self-titled album, their song “Mabu” followed a similar thought process as it was about Babcock’s car. In an interview with World Cafe, Babcock recalls that he first got his guitar, Matilda, after breaking his own personal guitar while on tour in 2014. A friend of Babcock’s gifted him the guitar in order to finish the tour and it has since been played at hundreds of shows. The song, while told from the perspective of the guitar, is more of an outlet for Babcock to figure out why he has, and there exist such strong emotions for an inanimate object. For obvious reasons, the guitar on this track is probably the best performance on the record.
Featuring vocals from Sarah Tudzin of the band ”illuminati hotties”, “Relentless” is a song about pursuing your dreams, but having to deal with the dread and torment that comes with it. While trying to power through and deal with all of the nonsense that comes with living life, it can become overwhelming at points. Once again the guitar on this song shines through.
Breaking the album up into its second part, the interlude, “Four Chords Pt. II: Five Chords” is a quick all-piano track where the board of directors are growing impatient and arguing over everything. The song subtly pokes at the corruption of the board with the lyric “I vote to end democracy”.
Kicking off the second half of the album with one of the most aggressive songs on the record, let alone the loudest mix, is “Waiting”. With probably the catchiest chorus on the record, the lead single off the album features vocals from Kathryn McCaughey of NOBRO. In the press release for the song, Babcock reveals that the song stemmed from the idea of pairing the heaviest riff that Chumak could write along with the “most uplifting chorus I could write, just to see what would happen”.
Probably the most synth-heavy song the band’s ever recorded, “Habits”. While the synths are incredible on this track, and a welcome addition from the band, the lyrics are all too familiar, focusing on the struggles of a relationship that a bad habit can cause.
While the band usually leaves the last track on the album to be the slow burner, “Cutting Off The Corners”, is comfortably in the back nine, but a little out of place. The distorted guitar that we’ve been hearing throughout the record makes a triumphant return, but that’s pretty much the only thing that’s notable to say about this one. There’s a reason behind this however, in an interview with Apple Music, Babcock reveals that this song was written 3 days after losing an old friend. While typically a PUP song contains a glimmer of hope, this was something that was deliberately avoided as it felt like it was a disservice to the song.
“Grim Reaping” follows the trend of the record of being an extremely loud and distorted mix, however, the bright horns in the instrumental break right before the final chorus are a treat to hear. This is probably the weakest song on the album as a whole, which is saying a lot because it’s still a fun listen. The band tries to express their political opinions a bit while still being vague about it which kinda leaves this song in a weird gray area.
The penultimate track on this album consists of two chords and eleven words crammed into 9 seconds. “Four chords Pt. III Diminishing Returns” just states “The board of directors are almost finished this record (That’s it)”.
On the live version of “PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy”, Babcock states that as a band, this might be their favorite track that they’ve ever written. The song is once again an incredibly heavy one with every single band member playing as harshly as they can along with a saxophone solo because why not. The song is a commentary on the band itself stating how they’ve grown older and have struggled with their newfound fame, but even with their struggles, they’re “failing upwards”. While the band is grateful for everything they’ve accomplished, this song is more about their self-indulgent self-destruction.
Final Thoughts
“THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND” is the most PUP the band has ever been with their incredibly aggressive playing and unique lyrics, the band has carved out a niche for themselves that I hope they continue to play out.
Album Score: 7/10
Favorite Tracks: Totally Fine, Waiting
