SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: AJJ – DISPOSABLE EVERYTHING

AJJ
Disposable Everything
Hopeless Records

For a band like AJJ, vulnerability and transparency are dominant, allowing their music to achieve greater impact across a very dedicated fanbase. Their newest LP Disposable Everything is the epitome of that practice, dialing into the nervous emotions and bitter truths humanity experiences in a post-pandemic society. As stated before, having a mental mainline between the band and listener is not necessarily new for AJJ, but in the current climate the subject matter is something that has been experienced by far more people and will lend this album to being one that has the strongest connections to listeners.

Musically, the album is an intentional blend of their previous two, combining a more rock-driven, garage sound among their traditional folk leanings. Yet there are several moments for surprise throughout the LP, such as the prog outro in “I Had A Thought Of You” that sends you into a brief spiral of wonderful psychedelia. The ones that borrow in similar style to Bible 2, such as “Death Machine” and “The Baby Panda” are done to an incredible new level that showcases some of the strongest hooks they’ve created. But the softer moments are just as intense as the heavy, with the title track being so bleak yet done in a way that gives beauty to our anxieties.

The combination of expansion to sounds they’ve dipped into before, the vast experimentation and ideas, and the weight of the lyrical content has greatly set this apart from their previous work, standing to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, in their catalogue to date.

SPILL FEATURE: LATELY I’VE BEEN FEELING GOOD AND THAT MAKES ME FEEL SO BAD – A CONVERSATION WITH SEAN BONNETTE OF AJJ

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