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Dec 08, 2020 Web Exclusive By Caleb Campbell

Given the title of the debut record from New York band The Big Easy, one might expect the album to draw from the obvious trials of 2020. However, the songs that make up A Long Year have been in the making for years in the NYC punk underground. All that time paid dividends given that the band’s debut is an unexpected blast of raw energy.

Where so many bands court accessibility while sacrificing emotion, The Big Easy looks to capture the band’s scrappy lo-fi core while making an eminently catchy and deeply relatable record. As the band moves easily through shades of indie rock, pop punk, and emo, its debut shows ever more its strength for writing and fiery energy.

The long year referenced by the record’s title doesn’t refer to broad societal pressures that came to a head in this year, but instead narrows in on a year in the life of frontman Stephen Berthomieux. Berthomieux chronicles his difficult breakup, moving out of New Jersey before being forced to return, and all the cascading self-doubt, depression, and bitterness that resulted from his year of dashed hopes. It is the sound of Berthomieux putting on record one of his worst years and waking up each day to fight hard for the next one. As he puts it on “New Year’s Day,” “I made a resolution to be happy cause I want this year to be different.” As a result, the record feels entirely fitted for a moment where thousands are doing the same as they work through their long year.

It’s hard to experience these tracks without considering what they would sound like played at max volume in a room full of people. While that’s obviously not a realistic option this year, the band’s production choices recreate that experience as closely as possible, wonderfully calling to the band’s strength in rowdy lo-fi punk. The Big Easy place themselves in much the same vein as some of the biggest names in pop punk over the last decade. Bands such as PUP, The Menzingers, The Wonder Years, and Joyce Manor have found winning formulas for turning mid-20s restlessness and failure into hugely cathartic instrumental moments. While The Big Easy does trade in this realm, the band also inputs its own particular raw energy and muddy sound that gives the record a distinct feel among its contemporaries.

The production sounds cavernous as if Berthomieux is giving his everything into a performance in an empty room. Yet, the record can turn on a dime to create moments of anthemic hook-driven excellence within the same song. The opener, “It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Hurt,” does this perfectly with the most instantly catchy central riff on the record sitting side by side with the lo-fi vocal delivery. “Fake It Till I Make It” also hits this combination with cleanly strummed guitar slowly building in distortion until the band pulls back for a marching, singalong conclusion as Berthomieux declares, “I guess I’ll fake it till I make it.” For as bitter and angry as the tracks can be, the band brings an equal amount of pure instrumental joy, making a communal experience out of Berthomieux’s pain.

Yet, the band also doesn’t drown these emotions in hooks and explosive anthems. The band is equally capable of putting together a stomping anguished cry with “Alone” or a comparatively stripped back track with “Something To Do.” Other moments, such as the finger picked acoustic outro to “Low Tier God,” break up the sound of the raucous punk tracks and reveal the frustrated emotional core of the record. Berthomieux’s voice is particularly strong on these tracks. His emotive howl is distinctive and perfectly melds with the raw and unfussed production choices.

A Long Year may very well be the first introduction to a new underground favorite. The emotive songwriting and lo-fi sound belies solid craftsmanship behind these tracks. It is always easy to connect with what Berthomieux is saying, whether he is downtrodden or hopeful. With its debut, The Big Easy has forged a great record built on a deep sense of catharsis and connection, the type of record listeners can fall in love with, and hold close to their hearts as a memory of their own long year. (www.thebigeasy.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 8/10