Lovejoy - ‘Wake Up & It’s Over’ review
Lovejoy, the British Indie Rock band best known for “One Day”, has released their latest EP, Wake Up & It’s Over.
They entered the music scene with, “Call Me What You Like” which peaked at number 32 on the UK’s Top 40. With the relatable bridge: “This just in: I am a total fucking dumbass / And I’ve come to the uncomfortable conclusion / I’ll be spending the rest of my life in a state of constant paranoia,” before the rhythm guitar is brought back for the chorus. In a world full of TikTok diagnoses and embracing our human awkwardness, I challenge anyone to not resonate with those lyrics. The added bonus is that the pause in the song is a very Green Day mic cut.
According to Apple Music, the six-song EP’s alleged best track is “Portrait of a Blank State”. But the authentic windows-down summer jam has to be the intro of “It’s Golden Hour Somewhere”. That’s why we never follow the little stars next to each track; it’s how you’ll miss out on some true gems.
A combination of a mellow strum of the guitar with vivid imagery and metaphor of the summer and change which then meets a chorus of “woooo ooooohs” in the backing vocals before reverting back to the strum gives you a little taste of the full range of the band and best encompasses their overall sound.
Leading the album, “Blank State’s” intro riff is reminiscent of the iconic Reptilia but the lyrics and vocals are much more indie. The song breaks into more modern rock with a bit of synth. Is the intro a bit long? Maybe. Did I still jam? Of course.
The best way I can describe this song is that it instantly transports me to being a teenager again playing the SSX Tricky Franchise and writing down all the songs as I look to fill my trick-meter on Garibaldi Mountain for the fourth time in a race.
Track two’s “Call Me What You Like” which was the original single, starts significantly more mellow before breaking into an upbeat around the forty-five-second mark and you can hear the accent MUCH more in this song which just hits your ear: *chef’s kiss*. As an American writing this, I am constantly hanging on the “cahn’t stay awake fahever”. You’ll find yourself singing over and over using the same inflection.
If you’re wondering where the album art came from, my humble opinion is that it stems from “Consequences” where frontman WIlbur Soot (real name William Gold) sings, “What time's the train stop?" / She asks me as I drawl / You're just so painfully punctual / I'm starting to get bored / I decorate my mind” and looking at the train crash on the album combined with the claymation-esque backdrop which looks like a decoration of the mind matches up perfectly. Especially since the train is in the process of blowing up and the entire chorus repeats “What's this? / The consequences of my actions, now” and I feel like a train crash is a pretty significant consequence.
