La Dispute - Rooms of the House (ALBUM REVIEW)

7.4

     Every relationship must have compromise. Two people come together to solve problems that they wouldn’t have if they were single. When you don’t solve these problems, well, see Rooms of the House for post-traumatic breakup stress. Grand Rapid’s post-hardcore outfit La Dispute’s lead vocalist Jordan Dreyer is no stranger to writing sad relationship songs. It seems to have come full circle, from Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair to Rooms of the House. Both albums are concept albums in the loosest sense of the word, where there is a main theme to the album. Both albums theme happens to be the same, breakups and relationships that will soon end. Rooms of the House is the bands first release since their 2011 magnum opus Wildlife.
        The album starts with a twanging guitar riff with Jordan Dreyer's vocals overtop describing the beginning of a storm. HUDSONVILLE 1956 MI is a fictional story about a couple during the tornado in Hudsonville, Michigan in 1956. It details the father staying in Michigan and the wife going to Indiana with their son to her parents house. This track stays true to La Dispute's classic sound of rising and falling guitars with heavy pounding drums. Woman (In Mirror) begins with a hypnotic ensemble of toms and bass kicks from a muffled drum set. This is then offset by a twinkly arpeggiated guitar, and is the first indication on the album that La Dispute may be treading into new territory.
         For Mayor in Splitsville begins with a dissonant collection of guitar work and hard hitting drums, then transforms into a poppy and melodic tune that if I had to bet will be one the more popular tracks. The beginning of the track hints towards this being the worst song on the album but triumphantly turns and recaptures itself as an accessible yet rewarding song. Woman (Reading) is the anti-climactic sequel to Woman (In Mirror) and is stylistically similar. The first half of the song is characterized by a soft guitar accompanied by horns and gentle drum work, until the second half where the tempo speeds up and catches up to La Dispute's past stylings of emotive and distorted post-hardcore.
        Stay Happy There, the first single from this LP is an energetic anthem about a couple who have just broken up and the post-breakup regret. The song is ultimately reminiscent of Wildlife's most popular song King Park. The final song on the album, Objects in Space shows off Jordan's less angry side by a spoken word aspect that describes him collecting all of the things in his house and talking about the significance and nostalgic factors of the items he has accumulated with a girlfriend. After summarizing the scene he has created on the floor he describes it as  a memorial to the relationship.