Los Angeles-based group The Neighbourhood has a sound that is hard to fit into any one genre. And it is exactly that amorphous sound that has amassed legions of fans. The only tricky part of being a fan of the band has been their brief break from releasing new material over the past few years. But, like any great artist, The Neighbourhood had more to say. And say it they did.
Their new, self-titled album, “The Neighbourhood,” was released on March 9. It features the group’s typical atmospheric rock filled with dance/pop beats and acoustically-driven pieces, which is what you’d expect from the group.
The three years since the group’s last release, “Wiped Out!,” which was filled with singles and EPs, was a long stretch after their three back-to-back releases from 2013 to 2015. Their self-titled LP, “The Neighbourhood,” marked the band’s first full record release since that span of time.
If you’re a longtime fan of the group, you’ll be happy to find just what you’d expect in the first track “Flowers.” If you’re a first-time listener, “Flowers” is still a perfect representation of what to expect later on. While the rest of the record doesn’t match the same “summer fun” feeling of their debut 2013 album, “I Love You,” like “Flowers” does, it still calls back to The Neighbourhood’s inner-city grunge.
The back-to-back tracks of “Nervous” and “Void” are a bit different from the rest of the album. The former takes clear plays from the band The Weeknd, while the latter employs an 80s sound.
“Sadderdaze,” a song from their 2017 EP, “Hard,” employs a more acoustic, choral sound that breaks out of the group’s normal formula. It does this, and still plays on the downtrodden sound throughout the rest of the record.
The final song on the album, “Stuck with Me,” rounds out the album with an 80s-inspired disco beat and employs backdrops in distorted guitars and synths that pulls the album’s sounds together in a neat little package.
Whether you’re a first-time listener or longtime fan, “The Neighbourhood” is an album for a lazy day that features some tracks you might want to add to your workout playlist. This new addition to the group’s family of complete albums is certainly a welcomed one after such a long wait.