awakebutstillinbed - chaos takes the wheel and i am a passenger (2023) [Hi-Res]

Five years after awakebutstillinbed's memorable debut, What People Call Low Self-Esteem Is Really Just Seeing Yourself the Way That Other People See You, the San Jose, California emo band returns with a force. Band leader and singer/guitarist Shannon Taylor has figured out how to draw on the history of first-wave emo while advancing the genre. Listening to Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a Passenger is a psychic workout. "bloodline" starts out surprisingly minimalist, Taylor's voice as scratchy and low as ever, until, just under two minutes in, the music springs to life with a mule kick; things are itchy and uneasy as the song builds: "Open your eyes/ This is your life/ Close your eyes/ It's not just your life." By the four-minute mark, it's in full bloom, the music descending—or ascending, depending on your point of view—into absolute chaos. "Everything you loooooove will be taken away from you," Taylor wails. Epic "road" is eight minutes of wild abandon and fury, verging on screamo but with moments of melodic prettiness. With a rawer edge than contemporaries like Foxtails, Taylor is unafraid to expose every vulnerability—not just through her words, but in her delivery: her voice cracks and snags and hits some weird places. It's practically shredded on power ballad "streamline" as she hollers, "How come it don't feel like anything anymore?" Taylor is joined by Like Roses' Amy Schmalkuche on "far," with its classic emo dynamics, and gives herself a chance to catch her breath on the shadowy acoustic track "savior." There are also moments of poppy pleasure on chiming "scramble suit," buoyant "adapt" and Paramore-esque "airport," which jangles even as Taylor fully unleashes her power, begging to not be judged by her past: "And I know I'm a crazy waste of space to society/ But I don't want that to be what you think about me." "clearview" is a rollercoaster of lulling valleys and explosive-outburst peaks. "redlight" is full on from the first second—frenzied with a guest turn by For Your Health's Hayden Rodriguez and Erik Lobo's drum tumult, but with brief flashes of sunshine clarity as Taylor embraces impatience and recklessness: "I'm caught falling in cycles/ I know we're never going to work it out/ Just suffer for pleasure in the moment/ Fuck it, I'm speeding towards the red light."



Tracklist:
1.01 - awakebutstillinbed - bloodline (6:29)
1.02 - awakebutstillinbed - road (8:21)
1.03 - awakebutstillinbed - far (3:13)
1.04 - awakebutstillinbed - streamline (5:45)
1.05 - awakebutstillinbed - airport (3:12)
1.06 - awakebutstillinbed - savior (2:27)
1.07 - awakebutstillinbed - clearview (3:58)
1.08 - awakebutstillinbed - enough (6:44)
1.09 - awakebutstillinbed - redlight (3:41)
1.10 - awakebutstillinbed - adapt (3:54)
1.11 - awakebutstillinbed - scramble suit (4:45)
1.12 - awakebutstillinbed - passenger (4:05)