Leisure Hour – The Sunny Side | Album Review
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Refresh Records
I have been trying to write this piece since before The Sunny Side was released. The reason I struggled is that I found myself becoming too earnest when discussing this album, as many of the topics depicted are things that I have lived through. Throughout these 34 minutes, Leisure Hour confront the realities of life in a way that hits uncomfortably close to home, with the trio addressing everything from struggling to pay rent to major instances of loss. The Sunny Side is a masterclass in breaking down universal feelings to their atoms and giving those feelings a reassuring new package.
Despite the unique heaviness of these topics, Leisure Hour remain unflinchingly positive throughout their debut LP, whether that shines through with soaring guitars that make you want to dance or sing-along “woahs” that feel primed to be belted out in sweaty basements and dive bars. It is impossible to listen to this album and remain truly sad, despite one notable, absolutely heartbreaking example I promise to tell you all about later. The Muncie, Indiana three-piece consists of guitarist/vocalist Isaiah Neal, bassist/vocalist Grace Dudas, and drummer Raegan Gordon, who come together to create 11 songs filled with rambunctious indie rock energy.
The Sunny Side begins with “Rent’s Due,” and this song is the perfect way to start as it sets the tone and stakes with an immediate “Oh the fucking rent is due / I check my bank account / and the funds start to run / with their unlaced shoes.” These lines are sung in a rather whimsical way over a bouncy guitar riff that immediately opens up into some fun percussion, which drives the heart of most Leisure Hour songs. This song also acts as a duet between Dudas and Neal, who jump back and forth between verses as they sing about the power of staying together despite strife. The highlight of the song is a solo in which Dudas sings, “I just wanted you to know that I fucking love you / even when the rent is due,” which builds up as vocals from Neal are layered over swelling drums before finally opening up into a pop-punk-fueled ending.
Acceptance is a central theme throughout the album and appears throughout songs like “Forgiveness,” a pop-punk banger track on which Dudas takes the lead vocals. This song explores the nature of coming to terms with your own personal limit of forgiveness. In “Part of Me,” Neal puts forth an emo ballad grappling with the nature of growing up and being alone. Perhaps the best example of this theme is in “Ivy Tech,” one of the more emo-tinged singles from Leisure Hour’s self-titled EP that made it onto the album, and it is clear why. Aside from being impossibly catchy, “Ivy Tech” articulates the idea that everyone you love will die and then turns it around, pointing out that the fact that life ends is exactly what makes it beautiful. We, by nature, are perishable, and that makes these silly little breaths we take worth something.
However, the air we breathe is a lot sweeter when you have someone to share it with, and Leisure Hour is more than happy to put forth a collection of love songs to remind us of that fact. Songs like “All of the Time,” “I Don’t Want This To End,” and “Am I Just Dead?” showcase the “fireworks” type of love that is explosive and inherent at the beginning of a relationship. It is that feeling when you just can’t believe what you have and all you want to do is be arm-in-arm.
The album is closed by a one-two punch that I have coined an “earnestness encore.” It begins with “Water Loves the Sunset,” and it barely feels like hyperbole when I say I find this song to be the most wholesome and intimate love song I have ever heard. The entire track is without percussion and features only a simple acoustic guitar part and distorted, echo-y duet vocals from Neal and Dudas. The song approaches the idea of holding a deep love despite not being close in proximity yet still feeling an endless pull toward each other. The water will always be pulled toward the shore, and once you feel a love like this, you yearn to be pulled right back in.
I personally view the closing track on any album as something almost holy in nature. The final song is the note you leave everything on, and The Sunny Side features one of the greatest closers I have ever heard. The conclusion of this album is “The Glow,” and this particular song is hard for me to write about because the themes are something that I have experienced first-hand. The song begins, “I was at your graduation / but you forgot to come.” The first time I heard the beginning lines of this song, I immediately broke into tears as a friend of mine passed away in high school, and images of watching her family walk the stage for her diploma played in my head, and they continued to haunt me for a while as I had run from these emotions for years. This song forced me to finally look into myself and find a way to move forward despite the grief I hid from. If I had to ascribe a single word to tell you what “The Glow” is as a song, that word would be important. Even if you hadn’t lived this story, I assure you that you will not escape this track without being overcome with emotion. I don’t know how to hear a song where you take one of the worst things to occur in your life and turn it into a beautiful gospel of positivity.
The Sunny Side is a cohesive debut from a young Indiana band that inspires hope for their future as a band and the future as a whole. Each song on this album feels like it could be played on any sized stage and leave the crowd dancing and singing along. It can’t be understated what Leisure Hour has been able to accomplish on their first record. They’ve honed a polished sound that is deeply entrenched in a distinctly human feeling. At the end of the day, all we want to be is better, and Leisure Hour show us that we can be.
Ben Parker is an emo kid from a small town in Indiana who has spent a little too much time reflecting on life. Ben is a poet and has written about topics ranging from death to addiction to that feeling when you meet someone, and once you part, you realize you’ll never speak again. Ben can be found at @Benyamin_Parker on all social media.
