Mechanical Canine To My Chagrin LP
Perhaps it’s because there are so many ways to interpret the genre, but emo has, beyond all expectations, shown itself to have staying power after decades of misunderstanding and permutations. Maybe it’s unfair to just hang the emo cap on a band like Philadelphia’s MECHANICAL CANINE, but as a longtime defender, I mean it as a compliment. These songs connect threads of everything from poppy mallpunk to more plaintive touchstones like the WEAKERTHANS, and yet it all comes together in its own mold. One impressive element of note is the runtime of some of these tracks, which regularly clock in around or even under a minute. It shows off the band’s ability to pack in hooks and get their point across quickly. Tracks like “Hey Buddy” get in and out but leave you feeling like you traveled somewhere, deftly hopping melodic ideas and genres in a way that feels cohesive. Overall, the band reads as bristling with creativity, which is always refreshing regardless of genre. Then they go full opus for the closer, “Watercourse,” which builds impressively to several emotional payoffs before ending with a classic twinkling, clean tone Midwest emo outro. I don’t want to paint this crew into a corner with genre signifiers though, and ultimately it’s just damn good songwriting on full display. But when the band itself jokes through the song title “Mechanical Canine Saves Emo,” it doesn’t leave everything to the imagination.