Wiped Out: Album Review

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Story by Santana Sizemore, Staff Writer

The anticipation is finally over Neighbourhood fans! The release of the highly awaited album Wiped Out! is now available on iTunes and other music streaming services. Since the release date, Friday, October 30th, they have sold over a thousand copies and counting. Needless to say, the overall outcome of the album was better than critics and even their fans expected.

The band itself hasn’t been around for awhile. The band first started in 2011 and continues to grow in numbers due to their different sound. Lead singer, Jesse Rutherford announced on Twitter that the album was one of the hardest projects he’s worked on in his career and has hopes that his fans enjoy all of the work he’s put into it.

The album has a laid back vibe, which is a different style to what the Neighbourhood usually plays. Songs like, “Greetings From Califournia” and “The Beach” are prime examples of the dark atmosphere Rutherford creates that can relax listeners.

“Honestly, in the past couple of years since the band started, it made us grow up in a lot of ways. I just turned 24. I never started feeling the pressures of the world and the weight of the world as much as I started feeling it in the past couple of years. And maybe it was because there’s a lot of s—-y things going on that are really in my face right now … all the killing, especially in America with the gun s—, it makes you sick. It’s just really heavy and I feel like that’s a big reason why R.I.P. 2 My Youth was written was because of all that,” Rutherford said to the Toronto Sun, explaining why he wrote the song “R.I.P. 2 My Youth”.

What makes Wiped Out! different from other works that they’ve done in the past is how every song has a story that goes along with the purpose of the album. For instance, the lyrics to “Single” talk about Rutherford’s relationship with his girlfriend Devon Carlson. “I can make you laugh until you cry,” and the song says how he wants her dad, Dave Carlson, to accept them as a couple when he sings: “So Dave, would you let your baby be my girl?” Rutherford also uses his song “Daddy Issues” to relate between him and Devon with their father figures, “I love that you got daddy issues and I do too.” Not to mention the song in the beginning of album “Moment of Silence”, which is actually a moment of silence used to reflect the “humming and empty silence” around the listeners and gives the album another feel to the silence. To Rutherford, putting “A Moment of Silence” was a gateway for fans to get into his thoughts, as well as leaving a moment for his late father. In addition to “Moment of Silence”, every other song includes a fade in or a fade out that gives the album depth and meaning.
Wiped Out! is a well portrayed album that shows both the darker and calmer side of the alternative world that The Neighbourhood brings. Jesse Rutherford,  guitarists Zach Abels and Jeremy Freedman, with drummer Brandon Fried and bassist Mikey Margott all had a hand in making this masterpiece and hope that the outcome of their album reflect their hard work.