Artist: Dads
Title: I’ll Be The Tornado
Label: 6131 Records
Genre: Emo, Indie Rock

“Oh.. there we are,” I thought to myself as the two-minute mark hit track number one, “Grand Edge, MI.” Drummer and vocalist John Bradley’s familiar, eerie falsetto finally made its way into Dads’ new record; a vocal watermark etched onto their music since their 2010 debut release, American Radass, that I was afraid we might’ve lost due to their sound’s noticeable facelift. A lot of things happened on I’ll Be The Tornado’s opening track. Two minutes and forty-two seconds in, heavy drumbeats and high-energy power-chord riffs are welcomed – a curtain lifter for the spirited collection of tracks this record had in store.

The lines “Maybe I’m happy together / We could be drunk together / We could be punk together” stayed with me when I first heard “Chewing Ghosts,” my favorite song off of this impending effort. All the talk of the band’s newfound pseudo-chipper vibe came to life upon listening to this track. The line “Maybe you’d like me again if I went back to being miserable” signified the changes in perspective (strongly reflected in the lyrics) that transpired throughout the two years that it took to make this record. A lot can happen in two years. Does this mean it’s all rainbows and butterflies from here on out for the emo/indie rock duo?

“Sunburnt Jet Wings” says otherwise. Despite the seemingly 180° turnaround on both the lyrics and the aura of their sound, this song contains bits and pieces of the self-loathe the band has been wearing on their sleeves since they started making music. Lines like “I’ve become the person I always hated / the enemy I was running from” made it very clear that the struggle is still very much present and real. Despite that fact, however, Bradley seems more hopeful than he has ever been and the remainder of the record proves just that.

Even tracks such as “Fake Knees” and “But,” both whose overall tempos were relatively slower, sounded a lot less mopey and a lot more resonant of hope compared to any of the other songs on Dads’ catalogue pre-I’ll Be The Tornado. The record’s title gives off the impression that the tornado will be a source of destruction and that it’s bound to wreck everything in its path. The closing line on “But,” however, goes like this: “And when I get there, it’ll be a storm / I’ll be the tornado… that keeps you warm.” It’s hard to describe how powerful those words are when actually put into context, so I’ll let you sit on it for a minute.

As I was saying, more and more memorandums of bidding misery goodbye power through the lyrics of songs like “The Romantic Ocean” and “Solid Year/Transitions.” These are are very vibrant and youthful anthems about successfully facing adversities head-on.

The duo made very effective use of their instruments and threw in chorale harmonies on the feel-good track “Take You Back.” The lyrics, again, are very reflective of optimistic ideologies that the band seemed to be in the thick of as they were making this record. The sonic elements of this song also complemented the positive fervor of the lyrics, making for another excellent track.

We witness a resurgence of American Radass and Pretty Good in the concluding track, entitled “Only You.” The song lasts longer than everything else, spanning for a little over seven minutes, similar to “Shit Twins” on Radass. That familiar, eerie falsetto once again makes its way to the end. After what felt like ages of reverb, the record finally comes to an end and I’m left with nothing but good memories of the past thirty-nine minutes.

I personally listened to Dads when the cute boy who sat next to me in class started dating another girl from the same class. I listened to Dads when I miserably made my way to the city for four-hour lectures during my winter break when it was twelve degrees outside. I listened to Dads when one of my best friends dropped out of college without saying goodbye.

Their music makes you feel like being sad and miserable is completely okay. And it totally is. But I’ll Be The Tornado, both lyrically and sonically combined, completes that statement with “Being sad and miserable is completely okay… because shit will pass and things will look up.” And I find a good amount of comfort in that.

SCORE: 9/10
Review written by Dana Reandelar

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Dana Reandelar

If not hunched over her desk writing about music, Dana can be found binge-watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls or condensing long rants to 140 characters. She also writes for Idobi Radio, and is an Off The Record podcast contributor.

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