Album Review: Growing Out Of Touch by Feeble

I seem to be getting into the habit of reviewing Feeble albums the year following their release. I first discovered the Hawaiian punk rocks early in 2019 after finding their debut album, Hope This Ends Well, on Bandcamp. That album was released in the summer of 2018 so I was pretty late to the party. In December of 2019, the four piece released their second full length – Growing Out Of Touch. I'm writing this review on January 3rd so I'm getting much quicker, hopefully for their third album I'll be able to review it in the same year it was released. If you're new to Feeble they are four "kinda bummed dudes" from Honolulu who write emotional pop punk music. I think they're ace!

Growing Out Of Touch begins with the song Shamowowza. The song starts slowly with just guitar and vocals as the band’s lead singer sings about missing somebody, thinking about them and wanting to get high. After the opening verse the rest of the band come in, things get louder and the intensity of the song increases. There's an element of chaos in the track that I really enjoyed, the tempo switches around quite frequently and leaves you feeling a bit like "what's coming next?". I love that feeling when listening to new bands. Up next is The Haunting Of Spaghetti Shaq. This song sees Feeble take a look at themselves and question why they're growing out of touch with people. Musically there's a real urgency about the song and the singer’s voice really adds to this as it gets more strained throughout the song. As the song progresses, the guitars get a bit atmospheric and even shoe gazey while the vocals get softer before a big finish with some gang vocals and guitar flourishes to finish the track. Gorilla Glue 4 is up next and I immediately fell in love with the song. It's a more conventional pop punk song that draws you in from the start. In true Feeble style, the song does get more chaotic and urgent as it goes on but it remains full of hooks and melodies. The song is about wanting to stay inside and trying to make someone who's trying to get you out see why that is. It's incredible how the vocals got more stressed and frustrated as the song goes on, really showing the emotion of the song.

Bozo Sushi is a short song that wastes no time in getting started. The track is about working with somebody you really don't get on with and the frustration that brings. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever heard a song about having a bad co-worker which is surprising as I'm confident we all work with plenty of people we don't actually like. The song is pretty relentless as Feeble's singer lists all of the reasons why this co-worker irritates them. It's like one endless stream of thought and it works so well as a song. The fifth track, Stratford, is definitely one of the stand out songs on Growing Out Of Touch. Starting with vocals and guitar, it has a particularly poppy feel to begin proceedings. This welcomes the listener into the song and gives them the urge to sing along with Feeble. Of course, the full band soon joins in and the song goes into a chugging yet melodic story about how things never seem to go the way that you planned. I'm sure a lot of people will have felt like this at some point, so the song is extremely relatable – this will really help listeners to connect with Feeble. Demo $quad begins with an audio clip from the Adam Sandler classic Big Daddy before launching into a song about needing space to deal with your mental health problems. Demo $quad was chosen as a promo single before the release of Growing Out Of Touch and it's plain to see why. It gives you a little bit of what Feeble are all about. Whirly guitars, sad lyrics, emotional vocals and loads of hooks.

The seventh track is titled Cap'n Holt. The song is kind of split into two parts. The first part is slow and quiet as they sing about feeling low, wanting someone to reply to a message and having negative thoughts about it. The second is louder and more angry as they let their frustrations build up and talk about why this is hard for them. I really enjoyed how Feeble structured the song, it makes for a very interesting listen. The penultimate song on Growing Out Of Touch is named Clingy. Again starting quickly, the track is another of the more pop punk sounding songs on the album with its up-tempo pace and sing-along moments. The urgency in the track is powerful and does and great job in giving the ending of the album a boost in the energy, in case you're beginning to lag in all the sadness. Clingy is about becoming over reliant on things to help you get over a break-up. During the song the problem of over thinking things and it preventing you to sleep is mentioned. Throughout the song there's a feeling of hyperactivity, until the end of the track when things calm down and the singer talks about getting over things and finally being able to sleep. The ninth and final song on the album is Don't I Know U?. The song starts in a sombre fashion, with some quiet vocals. As you will have come to expect from Feeble now, it's not long before things get loud. The song is full of distorted guitars and pounding drums soon come in too. It's not the most up-tempo of tracks but it's damn powerful. The slower chugging nature of the song really adds to the emotive vocals and the guitars add extra layers to this feeling. It's the best way to finish this album.

Hawaii isn't really the first place you think of when you think of sad punk music. Feeble however are an exception to the rule. Growing Out Of Touch is another great album from the band that will please fans of pop punk and emo music and will hopefully help people who are going through similar things to the topics that are touched on the album.

Stream and download Growing Out Of Touch here: https://feeblehnl.bandcamp.com/album/growing-out-of-touch

Like Feeble here: https://www.facebook.com/feeblehnl/

This review was written by Colin Clark.