Arigarnon Friend’s pop sensibilities and mid-west emo stylings lend themselves to the emotional intensity expelled on each track. Delicate angular guitar sweeps and bubbling sappy melodies sit atop grumbling bass and agile musicianship. Every moment of this album is well utilized to push the emotions behind each song further and further. Arigarnon Friend’s Muscles Memories is the emotions of a good hard cry processed and packaged into a well-used 25 minutes 47 seconds.
Opening tracks Timing and ACCEL come bursting through the speakers; each instrument played with such passion as to feel as if the band could reach out and touch the listener. Use of minor chord eeriness and group backing vocals on track Wallow help expand Arigarnon Friend’s sound while keeping the more straight forward songs on the album still feeling fresh.
There aren’t any drastic stylistic changes on Muscle Memories. It’s mostly pop-punk and mid-western emo, but Arigarnon Friends treat the individual creation of each song with the artistic intent and tailoring needed to keep songs from becoming stale. By doing so, the album as a whole stays interesting and feeling emotionally sincere.
Closing track FRIENDS delivers sparse verses contrasted by wall of sound choruses. Its vocal melody delivering a distinct feeling somewhere near melancholy before the whole song burns up under the accelerating pace of a misty reverb guitar solo.
And as quickly as it burst through the speakers, it went.
For fans of: Hot Hot Heat, Frankie Cosmos, The Fastbacks
Like Arigarnon Friend’s? Give these a listen: Hazy Sour Cherry, Knola, Full of Fancy
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