Sitting on a bay window bench, looking out over the Atlantic, the salty sea air cooling your face in the hot sun, a novel that will soon become your favorite nestled in your lap. This is the world that Slaughter Beach, Dog’s new album, Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling romanticizes, a world of care-free living and a relaxing relationship with nature. While it isn’t an experience of any of the band member’s childhoods, but it its one frontman Jake Ewald, of Modern Baseball fame, had in the face of the COVID pandemic, where he moved from bustling Philadelphia to a small cabin in the Poconos. Taking inspiration from singer-songwriter icons and inspired by his new experience living not in the big city but instead far more in touch with nature, its of little surprise that the new SB,D release is so drastically different from their previous albums.
Slaughter Beach, Dog laid its roots in the ruins of Modern Baseball (MoBo), an incredibly influential emo band from the mid-2010s. While MoBo capitalized on the growing trend of voice-crack filled, nonprofessional singers starting emo bands (in part due to them, while other projects such as The Front Bottoms and Joyce Manor certainly helped), SB,D was a stark contrast to the early 2010s emo band, relying less on heavy guitar riffs and more on the soft, indie rock vibes established in their 2016 album Welcome. Despite this, SB,D was definitely still emo-adjacent, reflecting on the emotions of childhood, struggling with love, and wanting to be just about anywhere but here.
Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling is the perfect time to get into Slaughter Beach, Dog precisely because it reflects a change in the music they release. Instead of an indie rock emo band, C,L,W,S is fresh, being emotional without needing to rely so much on the self-lamentation of other indie rock/emo bands. Instead of the stressed university days of MoBo, this album is the one you want on vinyl, sitting up at your bay window, reading your favorite Murakami book and breathing in the sea air.
If you have heard the several singles released in preparation for this album, you understand exactly what I mean. “Strange Weather,” “Float Away,” and “Summer Windows” perfectly encapsulate the vibe of this album, also serving as some of the best tracks on the record. My other favorite is “Tommy,” which I think is a lot of fun. I would say my least favorite song is “Engine,” primarily because it is nine minutes long.
This entire album is a lot of fun, but it’s not what I think of when I think Slaughter Beach, Dog. As a fan of their older albums, Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling feels like a different band, even though it has the same band members as previously. The sound is so different than SB,D’s previous projects that I could reasonably see this album being their least popular. Despite this, I could also see this being a new chance to reach new audiences. Will these songs go into the same playlists their older music is in? Probably not. But “Summer Windows” may create a playlist of its own, one that deserves to be listened to on that Bay Window in New England. Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling symbolizes a new phase in Slaughter Beach, Dog’s story and the music that they hope to make. And good or bad, that is the only way bands evolve, keeping themselves popular and innovating on the mistakes of the past.
Photo Credits from: Lame-O Records and Big Scary Monsters
