After reaching the top half of the Billboard 200 with their
John Congleton-co-produced debut album,
Nothing Happens, in 2019,
Wallows headed to the studio with another Grammy-winning producer,
Ariel Rechtshaid, fresh off his Best Alternative Music Album win for
Vampire Weekend's
Father of the Bride. The resulting album,
Tell Me That It's Over, throws a sunlamp and a spring into the step of the band's already infectious blend of yearning indie pop, melancholy post-punk, affectionate '80s pop, and
Strokes-ian dance-rock. The trio -- guitarists
Dylan Minnette and
Braeden Lemasters and drummer
Cole Preston -- all take turns on lead vocals this time around. Main singer
Minnette kicks things off with midtempo opener "Hard to Believe," a "we need to talk" song. Its spare, sun-streaked synthesizer pop transforms into churning grunge-pop as lyrics grapple with a stalled relationship ("What age would you call your prime?/We've been at this for a long time"). Roaring feedback, rock drums, and strings join the narrative as the singer fesses up to wandering affections. It ends in a swirl of amplified dissonance and melodic keys. That leads into the charging banger "I Don't Want to Talk," a rousing breakup request and the source of the line "Tell me that it's over," which gets repeated in the chorus ("Then I could shut this off"). That song closes with a feedback-free surge of churning guitars, pounding drums, harmonica, and a whistler-friendly keyboard hook. They switch lead singers for songs including "At the End of the Day," a merger of '80s-style power ballad and tuneful indie rocker, and the very-'80s "Hurts Me," which borrows the era's synth bass-slap bass sound. Elsewhere, the voluble two-minute "Marvelous" introduces brass that reappears in unexpected places, including fuzzy pop/rocker "Missing Out," which also offers bells, a sultry saxophone solo, and more. An invigorating set without a significant weak spot, it ends satisfyingly with
Minnette leading the cinematic daydream "Guitar Romantic Search Adventure." An album that's trying to move forward and ultimately relieved things are ending,
Tell Me That It's Over may not find
Wallows any luckier at love, but they're a little older, a little wiser, just as catchy, and more sonically adventurous. ~ Marcy Donelson