Demob Happy - The Grown-Ups Are Talking

Through their first three albums, Demob Happy were many things: indie sleaze princes, post-grunge romanticists, ’80s synthwave cosplayers, the list goes on. Fortunately, they could do it all well, and that afforded them the ability to shift their sound and try their hand at new things. But coming into their fourth album, they tried something seemingly radical: just being themselves. And the result is some of their most unflinching work yet.

Written on a desert retreat to the legendary Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, ‘The Grown-Ups Are Talking’ is the sound of a band reckoning with their past and maturing in real time. Whether they’re singing about betrayal on ‘Judas Beast’, ruminating on male suicide on ‘No Men Left Behind’, or digging into past relationships on ‘Little Bird’, it’s all done with an assuredness.

Vocalist Matthew Marcantonio takes time to showcase his full range, from the whimsical elasticity of ‘Power Games’ to the mournful baritone of ‘Don’t Hang Up The Phone’. Elsewhere, his lyrics traverse humor and humility with deft eloquence in his finest display of songwriting yet. A decade on from debut ‘Dream Soda’, Demob Happy continue to go from strength to strength. The final notes of ‘Give It All To Me’ ringing out over a bed of chirruping crickets and distant howls is the perfect soundscape for a band that feels wholly other, and singularly free. The shackles are off.