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The Swellers - Ups and Downsizing

Rating

RIYL

Much the Same
Living With Lions
Polar Bear Club

Release Date

09/29/2009

Label

Fueled By Ramen

Tracklist

1. 2009
2. Fire Away
3. Sleeper
4. Welcome Back Riders
5. Feet First
6. Do You Feel Better Yet?
7. Ups And Downsizing
8. The Iron
9. Watch It Go
10. Stars
11. Dirt

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Recent Ratings
Firebrandead	thetsaiguy
tim	Aaron Yarborough

After the phenomenal slab of EpiFat-influenced pop-punk that was My Everest, touring with punk rock greats like A Wilhelm Scream and Less Than Jake, and creating general goodwill among the punk rock populace, The Swellers have signed with Fueled by Ramen records and are opening up for Paramore. Conventional wisdom tells us that these dudes are now just a bunch of sellouts and that their new album Ups and Downsizing will be a horrible amalgam of neon t-shirts, superfluous auto-tune, and pandering to “alternative” rock radio. But this punker-than-thou attitude be damned – Ups and Downsizing might be one of the best punk records of 2009.

The Swellers haven’t changed their formula much. It is still a mixture of 90s EpiFat style skate-punk, Drive-Thru Records style pop-punk, and hints of the anthemic tendencies of bands like Jimmy Eat World. The band still employs turn-on-a-dime tempo and dynamic changes to make their songs endlessly interesting. The guitars are still layered and built to sometimes shimmering, sometimes pulverizing effect. Vocalist Nick Diener still has an earnest quality to his voice, which instantly makes anything he says believable and special. Drummer Jonathan Diener still propels the band with everything from forbidden beats to open-sounding breakdowns with intense skill.

So yes, Ups and Downsizing is My Everest part two. But it is the best kind of sequel which ups the ante on everything that came before. “Welcome Back Riders” displays a wide-ranging use of dynamics that might make A Wilhelm Scream jealous. This phenomenal song moves from a sort of open-sounding jangle to a forbidden beat to a huge chorus all within the span of 20 seconds. The vocals reach new highs of emotion in “Fire Away”, showing that vocalist Nick Diener is growing into one of the better punk rock frontmen today. He has traded in some of his snotty brashness for a more mature swipe at leaving a lasting impression. “Sleeper” sounds like a less cheesy “responsibility”-era MXPX, complete with a huge and simple sing-along chorus. “The Iron” is the most furious and technical song The Swellers have ever written, even though this song retains a distinct melodic edge. Anti-suicide song “Feet First” has everything a Swellers fan could ask for in a song: a subdued and emotional intro, complicated drum patterns, a big catchy chorus complete with tight vocal harmonies, a loud and syncopated breakdown-lite, and a huge ending complete with singalongable “wo-oh”s. The only noticeable misstep is the token mediocre acoustic ballad “Stars”, and it is easy to overlook it because of the greatness of the rest of the album.

Picking up right where they left off with My Everest, The Swellers have once again proven that they have an indelible talent for creating technical, hard-hitting, catchy, intense, dynamic, and (most importantly) engaging music. Ups and Downsizing is a phenom of an album and, if there is any justice in the world, it will propel them to more lucrative mainstream success while enabling them to maintain the respect and acclaim that they have gained in the music community. People can (and will) scoff at The Swellers for signing to a trendy, “unpunk” label all they want, but Ups and Downsizing could be the perfect gateway album to introduce a generation of unsuspecting kids to the world of punk rock.

--Stephen Harris