The Wonder Years - The Hum Goes On Forever (Sept 23rd 2022) Album • Page 60

Can you elaborate on the lines you don’t like in the closer?

 

I think Cardinals II into Paris of Nowhere is super fucking jarring, but both songs rule

 

I’ve always liked it but I played through their discography days before this one was released… I was reminded how good Sister Cities is. Such a solid album all the way through.

 

If Sister Cities had better production it would be one of my favorite albums of all time. Same with NCTH, minus some songs.

 

I think the production on Sister Cities really fits the vibe of the album (though I do agree with the mastering complaints for the most part)

 

Production has never really bothered me on that album but I also rarely notice the production as its own thing. I just take in the song as it is.

 

Raining In Kyoto always feels like it should “hit” harder than it actually does. It sounds like you’re listening to the song 5 volume notches below what you want to because someone is sleeping in the other room.

 

i'm fine with sister cities mostly besides raining in kyoto which just sounds weird

i can look past the compression on ncth because the songs are too fire, but would go hog-wild for a remix

 

I'm into this album much more than the last few, but I definitely am more into the songs where they get out of their comfort zone (Doors, Cardinals, Death) than the TWY-by-numbers tracks. They're all good, but I'd love to have them swing for the fences for an entire album someday

 

No particular order too 5:

Low Tide
Old Friends
Cardinals II
Songs About Death
Lost it in the Lights

Nothing close to a bad song on here

 

I DON'T WANNA DIIIIEEEE 'CAUSE I GOTTA PROTECT YOOOUUU

Rent free in my head since Friday

 

The riff in the verses of Oldest Daughter sounds like the riff from Grand Theft Autumn, right?

 

Is there a bit of vocoder with Dan’s vocals in Laura & the Baeehive?

 

I also hear it near the end of the last track, like an almost artificial sounding layering of his vocals. Not necessarily a criticism, that’s just how it sounds to me.

 

Best description of the SC problem I've heard. I can't cosign the Suburbia opinion because I like that sound, personally, but it is highly specific to that record and I get not liking it.

 

It sounds like you know what you’re talking about so thanks for this. To my ears, NCTH sounds the worst. It sounds like they put plastic wrap over all the microphones and then recorded the album from the next room over, lol.

 

Hahaha thank you! I'm an audio engineering student and I do mixing/mastering work for my own + friends work and it's caused me to overanalyze every mixing choice on every album ever.

 

I appreciate SC and the concept they were going for, it just sounds like a tin can.

 

Agreed, the scrappy sound of Upsides and Suburbia is what drew me in to be honest because it reminded me so much of late 90s/early 00s pop punk.

 

Someone please explain production vs mixing.

As I understand it, production is distortion, volume, microphone setup, etc.

Mixing is how loud or soft and how balanced any and all of those things are.

Is that it, in the most basic sense?

 

I always felt that the master on Sister Cities was intentional because a) they were trying to be as 'dynamic' as possible, leaning into the whole "this has their heaviest AND softest music yet!" narrative; and b) that muted soft music sound struck me as being indebted to the kind of indie music Dan really likes - a lot of those records need to be turned up as well, it's just that they don't blast and scream at you 30 seconds later haha.

 

Would this even be a TWY thread if we didn't all become sound quality analysts?

 

The rollout for this was such a bad idea. If you're going to release half the album beforehand, at least release the middle tracks*

*though not in this specific case cause those are easily the weakest three songs. but in general, hate the rollout.

 

I just finished my first listen and was absolutely destroyed by that closer. Was absolutely not expecting "You’re the Reason I Don’t Want the World to End" to emit such an emotional reaction from me. I was reading the threads earlier and everyone kept talking about the closer being incredible, and it just gutted me. I was not prepared for that.

This is the first (and likely only) time I'm writing these words out to anyone because I couldn't bear to do so before. Anyone I've talked to up till now has been called about this. We lost our oldest son in a car accident a few months ago, and his brother was the one who was driving. He's facing significant time behind bars, and I don't know how to pick up and move on with life. My husband and I lived for our children, and now they're gone. We've been working through it a day at a time. I'm just getting back into being a little social, going to concerts, picking up hobbies, etc.., but all of that gets overshadowed with the realization on a daily basis that my son isn't alive anymore. I was step-dad, and I was so proud of that. Having kids wasn't in the cards for me, and I'm eternally grateful I married someone that had them. My husband and I are doing the best we can, and we have a strong support system of a few friends mostly that have been a big help. We're trying to support our other son through this, but we can't discuss the topics we want to because of the legal side of things. Our oldest was also a father himself, and that just made this tragedy even worse. There are days where I don't want to exist anymore. We're working on our living trust right now, and I just don't care who gets what at all. I just want our son back. I feel a part of my soul died with him and it's extremely difficult to get up a lot of days and give a damn about anything. I'm working on getting back to where I should be in our "new normal". Writing this helped with accepting the circumstances of our lives now. It's the hardest thing we'll ever have to go through together. We hope to have our oldest son home with us again one day.

Needless to say, I lost it at these two parts: "Scared to my bones, That I won't find a way, To keep you and your brothеr safe" and "I don't wanna die, 'Cause I gotta protect you, And you're the reason I can't leave here". It's like Dan expressed my own thoughts, with his writing being impeccable here. I got goosebumps on my first listen.

I recognize this song is supposed to emotionally hit for another reason for most parents, but for my particular situation, I'm on the opposite end of this line of thinking now. In the end, I couldn't keep them safe. And I've got to somehow keep it together for my husband and our other son, and remain optimistic about life, despite one of my reasons for existing not existing anymore. I wouldn't wish this type of pain on anyone. It's been a long time since a song made me feel so emotional, and it's what I needed to hear, which was the perspective that guided me for a decade of my life.

Very grateful to The Wonder Years. They'll never know it, but this album (and notably the closer), helped save me during the darkest period of my life. A family member told us something recently that has stuck with us ever since: "You're never going to get over it. But you have to learn to get through it". This album just helped me with the "getting through it" part.

 

Sending love man.