[8/10]
American post-hardcore band Make Do And Mend will be releasing their third full-length album Don’t Be Long on the 24th of February. The album, which will be put out by Rise Records, has been eagerly anticipated. Despite having undergone a number of lineup changes and the current band members living across different states, Make Do And Mend still manage to make consistently good music. Considered to be a “Wave” band along with La Dispute, Touché Amoré, Pianos Become The Teeth, etc., their music has consistently pushed boundaries and challenged what punk can be. Don’t Be Long is no exception to this innovative spirit.
The album opens with a bang on the hard-hitting title track. Next up is ‘Ever Since,’ which features a catchy melody the listener can’t help but nod along to. On ‘Old Circles,’ the band meshes a traditional punk rhythm with an almost Southern rock sounding guitar melody. ‘Each of Us,’ begins with a cheeky reference to the Smiths’ ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,’ before launching into a chorus, which will definitely be fun to sing along to live. One of the absolute standout tracks is ‘Sin Amor,’ which captures the pain of lovers drifting apart. The album changes in tone on ‘I Don’t Wonder At All,’ which begins with just acoustic guitar and frontman James Carroll singing. The final song, ‘Begging For The Sun To Go Down,’ is atmospheric and hauntingly beautiful, providing the perfect ending to the album.
Overall, Don’t Be Long is more diverse in style than the band’s earlier efforts. Within the album, Make Do And Mend have managed to explore a variety of styles, while still staying true to their post-hardcore roots. While these explorations could have gone wrong and alienated the band’s fans, these risks paid off. Unlike many albums these days, which seem to be just a collection of singles and other songs randomly thrown together, Don’t Be Long has a strong arc to it. This comes from evident attention and care for the tracklisting. The album proves Make Do And Mend to be a band who not only continually innovate, but also have staying power.
Make Do And Mend has a short North American tour planned to support the new album in March. Then, they will be heading off to Europe in May to play a number of dates including sets at Groezrock in Belgium and Pirate Satellite Festival in Germany. They also have announced a show at Birthdays in London on the 12th of May. Hopefully, the London show will be followed by other UK dates.
