Album Review

Modern Baseball – You’re Gonna Miss It All

• 10th Feb 2014

Basement have come back from hiatus. Taking Back Sunday’s original line-up are over on Hopeless Records. Moose Blood will be releasing their debut. We might even get a new Brand New album this year. Talks of a so-called “emo revival” are rife, and records such as You’re Gonna Miss It All are only helping this cause.

Modern Baseball’s sophomore effort is in much the same vein as their Sports, in it’s ever-relatable lyrics and catchy melodies. Many say that the vocals can sometimes be hard to listen to, but it’s easy to get into it when you hear everything else going on.

Modern Baseball are a Philadelphia four-piece, made up of guitarists Jacob Ewald, who also covers vocals, and Brendan Lukens, alongside Ian Farmer on bass and Sean Huber on drums. The young band self recorded and produced their acclaimed debut Sports, but on this instance were helped for the production of You’re Gonna Miss It All.

This helping hand has not taken anything away, as YGMIA still has that unique Modern Baseball sound found on their debut. Lead single ‘Your Graduation’ showcases this, with biting guitars and memorable lyrics of love and loss, forever relatable (“I swear this has gotta be / the hundredth time I’ve thought of you / tonight”).

The album opens with the ever positive ‘Fine, Great’, tackling such problems like how “your instagram stopped”, and it’s easy to see that this is an album filled with sarcasm and wit, again playing on what was evident throughout Sports. Next up is ‘Broken Cash Machine’, one which the band have played live on recent tours, which only gains from production.

‘Rock Bottom’ and ‘Notes’ are other notable mentions of the record. The former has already been released as a single, while ‘Notes’ is something of a love note to “long dark hair”, detailing how much Ewald longs for his “trophy shelf of slip-ups”.

the musicianship behind each track is another element of what makes Modern Baseball so exciting – not just their ability to turn a phrase. The song ‘Charlie Black’ is a great example of this, as each of the four come together in this heavy, bass-driven track, while ‘Timmy Bowers’ is a stripped down song, emotive in it’s style and it’s lyrical content.

But it’s final track ‘Pothole’ which takes the cake, as it’s acoustic guitar laden with Ewald’s lyrics brings the scope of everything down, slows the album before it’s inevitable end, and all focus is on Modern Baseball, as it should be. 12 tracks in length, yet with only one clocking in over 3 minutes in length, You’re Gonna Miss It All seems albeit a bit short.

However, quality over quantity is always the bill, and Modern Baseball is full of quality and talent. If there is an emo-revival on the agenda, expect these guys to be on the fore-front.

Download: Your Graduation, Pothole, Charlie Black, Timmy Bowers

Venue: You’re Gonna Miss It All
Support Band: Run For Cover Records