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Music

Listen to Sorority Noise's Brand New Album and Feel all the Feels

They have found a place where the thoughtful weight of mewithoutYou and Modern Baseball's knack for punchy melodies collide.
Emma Garland
London, GB

There is something comfortably familiar about Sorority Noise. Not in the sense that you think you've heard them before, but in the way they precisely articlate things that are recognisable by pretty much anybody who has ever felt feelings. Coming just over a year after their debut album Forgettable, we're streaming their new record Joy, Departed a day ahead of its release via Topshelf Records.

Joy, Departed has everything you could want from a guitar band: irresistable pop hooks, big Weezer-esque shreds, orchestral swells, grunge breakdowns so heavy they'll crush you into oblivion, and I'm pretty sure I clocked a scintilla of Jeff Buckley in there too. A complex but also super fun melting pot of influences, Joy, Departed occupies a place where the thoughtful weight of mewithoutYou and Modern Baseball's knack for punchy melodies collide.

Since Topshelf Records is largely associated with The Great Emo Revival: 2.0, that term will inevitably hover around Joy, Departed like a persistent douche who asks "where's my cuddle?" at a house party. But Sorority Noise are keen to make the distinction between emotionally-driven and "emo." Speaking to Alt Press recently, frontman and lyricist Cameron Boucher spoke about his experience with mental illness and how it fed into the album, saying: "Depression is not a trend. Depression is not cool. Depression is not hip. It is a serious mental illness that we should help others fight to better their lives as well as our own. Stop glorifying sorrow and start lending a helping hand to those that need it the most."

So there you have it. Stick this on, hug a pal, and then embrace life—with all its warts—in the same manner.

Joy, Departed will be released on June 16 via Topshelf Records.

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