The Wonder Years are a band to grow up with. Every album has caught me at a specific point in life where you’ve learned more about life, and you’re not quite sure how to handle it. Their catalogue is basically just a diary of growing up, starting with a stereotypical “I want to get out of this town” pop-punk album, to an album about community, then the weight of becoming an adult, then social responsibility. Their most recent album Sister Cities is an album about grief and absence.
The lyrics to the album masterfully weave together metaphors across tracks to describe appreciation and longing for your loved ones while you’re grieving. The opener “Raining in Kyoto” sets the tone for the record lyrically – desparation and longing for your loved ones when you’re far away and grieving: “Raining in Kyoto. I’m starting to shake. They’ll hold your service tomorrow. I’m an ocean away.”
I’ve really grabbed on to how the album uses colors to set the scene and feeling. Its as though the lyrics describe those moments you tell yourself to take in the scenery and appreciate where you are, despite whatever is going. Thats a constant theme of this album: taking a moment away from grief to appreciate who is still there, but to still feel that grief. Its a fine line to walk, but this record does it skillfully.
This album isn’t as instantly accessible as Surburbia I’ve Given You All, and Now I’m Nothing, and thats okay. Sister Cities needs you to chew a bit and sink into what they songs are about. The album’s closer “The Ocean Grew Hands to Hold Me” ties all of the metaphors through the record together, which gives the previous songs significantly more meaning, and begs you to listen again. While we’re having a rainy spring time in the Pacific Northwest, I think thats just what I’ll do.
At Ken 