Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
The Arrival Note calls back to a time when emo was still a post-hardcore genre in the most literal sense. Bands like Texas Is the Reason and Elliott, two explicit influences for the Florida emo quartet, were the softer outlets for guys in hardcore projects to experiment a bit more outside the genre’s confines, freely pulling in influences from indie rock and post-punk.
So it is with the Florida-based emo band made up of three-fifths of rising hardcore stars Contention, who also released their debut LP earlier this year, among a variety of other heavy bands; compared to the members’ other gigs, The Arrival Note is a much lighter project, but there’s enough grit and enough bite to keep things interesting. Like their labelmates in Feverchild, their sound is grounded in the past but not stuck there; for the three years they’ve been active they’ve been honing their sound and …Home Is So Far from Here is the culmination of it all so far.
…Home Is So Far from Here puts more emphasis on Josh Howell’s vocals than previous releases, aided by the crisper production and really driven home by the number of guest vocalists; a third of the non-instrumental songs on the album feature vocalists from other bands, Howell’s wife provides harmonies on a couple more tracks, and he seems much more comfortable handing off the mic to his bandmates now. Nowhere is this clearer than on the re-recorded version of Vol. 2 opener “XOXO,” which strips some of the rasp from Howell’s voice and pushes the chorus into the spotlight. It’s an adjustment from the version that’s been out since 2022, but does well to highlight this sleeker, hookier version of the band.
Indeed, with the less crackly finish, The Arrival Note almost sounds like a pop-punk band sometimes; on the gang-vocal-laden “World Moves On” Howell trades off lines with Postdrome’s Travis Lowe in a way that recalls early Taking Back Sunday, building up to possibly the most massive chorus in the band’s catalog, and Justin Ramone of pop-punk band Glazed sounds right at home on “Back to the Start,” lending the track a sticky sweetness in contrast to Howell’s throatier verse.
Still, the band hasn’t betrayed their hardcore roots: the riff that opens “Astronaut” is swampy and thick, and “All in a Lifetime” is one of the fastest and most aggressive tracks they’ve ever penned, the guitars grinding like teeth on bone. By the time the chorus kicks in, “All in a Lifetime” is both one of the heaviest and one of the catchiest …Home Is So Far from Here cuts. It’s a great mission statement, track one side A for the band’s debut LP; here’s what The Arrival Note does, and they do it better than most.
In the spirit of the original emo bands, though, The Arrival Note does find time to slow down and feel their feelings. That’s where much of their best material has come from in the past–”Floor,” “Grey,” 4th of July”–and it’s no different here. “Loveletter (For You)” is the lightest and tenderest song in the band’s catalog, just a couple of guitars and a piano underlining Howell’s promises to his wife: “in a world that’s always changing / my heart will stay the same.” When she comes in on the second chorus, it’s as compelling as the most pummeling riffs on the album. Then the album’s last five minutes, the brief “Interlude” and closing “Chasing Powerlines,” go full EndSerenading, leaning into the most starry-eyed guitar work the genre has to offer. They’re beautiful songs, and Howell’s gruff voice shines over the softer instrumentation with this cleaner production. During the chorus of “Chasing Powerlines,” things open up a bit, and the song becomes a veritable earworm before winding back down; it helps both that hook and the song’s outro, with its sprinklings of soft keys, to hit harder.
While a song like “Loveletter” can prove that there’s a lane open for The Arrival Note if they wanted to tone everything down to just a murmur permanently, “Chasing Powerlines” showcases one of their greatest strengths in their ability to blend the more delicate and more anthemic ends of the emo spectrum at once–so many of their peers lean so far into one side or the other. Not so on …Home Is So Far from Here, which should please fans of the emo torchbearers they’re pulling from but also anyone who can appreciate riffs and hooks. On Vol. 2, “Grey” turned on the line, “I remember that sense of life passing me by.” On this record’s “Based on a True Story,” Howell expresses a similar sentiment, but this time the song ends on a decidedly different note: “I still dream.” The meaning is clear. The ’90s may be over and their heroes long since moved on, but The Arrival Note is keeping that dream alive.
Disappointing / Average / Good / Great / Phenomenal
…Home Is So Far from Here is out November 8th via Sunday Drive Records.
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Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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