Review by Shannon Shumaker
The incredible sound captured on Textbook’s All Messed Up is timeless. All 11 indie-punk tracks on this record are upbeat, catchy and full of gorgeous hooks and melodies that are impossible not to fall in love with.
The first track on All Messed Up, “Everything I’m Not” is incredibly catchy and easily sets the rest of the album up for success. After “Everything I’m Not,” the album flows easily into the more upbeat and more punk sounding tracks, “Just One Of Those Things,” which is followed closely by “Looking After Me,” which is easily one of my favorite tracks on the record. While “Looking After Me” is more soft and melodic than “Just One Of Those Things,” it also hosts an insanely strong guitar solo towards the end of the track, making it an absolute stand out. On top of that, the punk-sounding bass tone on “Looking After Me” is a great touch.
While the vocals are definitely strong on the entire record, they especially shine on “Shared Privacy” and “Call You Up.” The harmonies in particular in “Shared Privacy” are some of the strongest on the record, making the track even stronger.
One of the strongest aspects about All Messed Up is definitely the way that it flows. Every musical decision that the band makes, from the more vocally driven tracks to the songs where the guitar and bass work really shine, just seems to make sense. The product of the incredible flow is actually a surprisingly calming record. While much of All Messed Up is definitely upbeat and hard-hitting, it’s the flow between each song that makes it really easy to sit back and relax while listening to this album. On top of that, the sound that Textbook has found with this record (a 90’s throwback mix of punk and indie rock) is as timeless and nostalgic as it is fresh and relevant. While All Messed Up could easily be listened to alongside some old school punk records, it could also be compared to the newer likes of The Menzingers or even I Am The Avalanche. Textbook’s All Messed Up is timeless and incredibly well written, which makes it an album that will be pumping out of my speakers for some time to come.
Rating: 4.5/5
Listen to “Looking After Me”