Meet Me In Montauk’s unashamed emo melodies are unambiguously retrospective. Their entire album is filled with dual vocals that would make Taking Back Sunday jealous. ‘Ouroboros’ even throws gang vocals into the mix. There are two epic tracks in the midst of the record’s forty minute running time that tell tales of heartbreak – that jump from cracked emotional vocals to unexpected indie-punk and back to gang vocals.
With all of this glued together, ‘Where The Grass Meets The Pavement’ provides an emo paradise. For anybody missing the Drive Thru Records heyday, Meet Me In Montauk have given an answer – simultaneously injecting modern sounds into the mix. There are moments that draw from The World Is A Beautiful Place And I’m No Longer Afraid To Die, and moments that throw those beautiful soundscapes at a rough wall. All the while, the four-piece are deliberately paying homage to their favourite era.
‘Where The Grass Meets The Pavement’ is brimming with highlights as it wavers from the fast paced to the singer-songwriter style honed by the likes of The Early November. ‘Juliet’ jams all of Meet Me In Montauk’s creativity into one five and half minute belter – stunning at times, surprisingly ferocious at others. The female vocals on ‘Lonely Boy’ perfectly compliment the genuinely moving melody, whilst ‘Poor Me’ and ‘From Her Perspective’ deliver a livelier sound – the latter seeing the vocals move into screams for an unanticipated impact.
By keeping things simple and allowing the melody to take centre stage, Meet Me In Montauk are both fresh and thoroughly exciting. Their sheer dedication to the genre and their understanding of its fundamentals are unmistakable throughout the record. Meet Me In Montauk may be looking back a decade, but they sound so much better for it. ‘Where The Grass Meets The Pavement’ is a masterclass in emo that far outweighs material by a whole host of everyday names.
BEN TIPPLE