Under Soil and Dirt
Under Soil and Dirt moves with the confidence of a band that knows exactly where every beat should land. The guitars are busy, the drums change direction cleanly, and Parker Cannon attacks his melodies as if singing them gently would miss the point. That precision gives The Story So Far's debut its particular excitement. The songs feel ready to overflow while remaining tightly organized.
“Roam” and “Quicksand” show how well the formula works. Both turn tangled personal frustration into immediate choruses, with enough movement beneath the voice to keep the repeated lines interesting. Small guitar figures give the music a melodic identity beyond the chords. The band can hit hard without having every instrument perform the same job.
“High Regard” benefits from the room given to its instrumental passages. There is pleasure in following the players around Cannon's words, even when his anger starts to feel familiar. “Placeholder” changes the surface with acoustic guitar, but his forceful delivery keeps it connected to the rest of the album. The quieter setting reveals how much of the record's intensity comes from the voice itself.
The writing is harder to admire without qualification. Some relationship songs turn wounded pride into judgment, and “Daughters” is particularly unpleasant in its treatment of the person being described. The band's melodic assurance can make those attitudes easy to overlook. They still limit the emotional reach of music that otherwise invites a whole crowd inside.
At eleven tracks, the record stays focused, though its constant vocal pressure leaves little room for a different perspective. Its strongest moments come when the arrangement supplies the flexibility Cannon resists. Under Soil and Dirt succeeds through the quality of those arrangements and the sheer strength of its hooks. It captures youthful frustration vividly, including the parts of that frustration that deserve a more skeptical response.
