“I don’t know euphoria / Would like to meet her someday”
Grab your headphones and say “Hello” to your new end-of-summer soundtrack: Weathers just served up Pillows & Therapy and you’ll want to give it a listen.
Based in Southern California, the alternative rock quartet has been around since 2015 and found success with their major single “Happy Pills”. After a debut full-length in 2018, Weathers is back again with a new album full of boppy yet thoughtful tunes to get you through the rest of 2021 and beyond.
Opening track “Hello” immediately sums up the album’s overall themes of mental health and growing up. Despite the cheerful melody, singer Cameron Boyer delivers lines like “after party at the hospital, I really just want to die / they check my head and gave me pills, now everything’s really fine” that speak to a darker mindset.
From there, each song hits the sweet spot between making you dance and making you think. The lead single, “Talking is Hard” feels 80s inspired with a slinky guitar line and a chorus anyone who has trouble expressing their feelings can relate to. “Rehab” is as addictive as the relationship the song describes and dares you to stay still with a thumping bass. And closing track “C’est la vie” is a dark electronically-tinged look at the desire to restart and get your life back on track after hitting rock bottom.
Meanwhile, “Hard Times” and “Strange Dayz” remind us that we’re not alone. Regardless of how put together someone looks, we all have our own stuff going on. It’s easy to make the connection to the current state of the world (i.e. the literal pandemic) but it’s also a good metaphor for being in your twenties: When you’re unsure of what exactly is expected of you and how you’re supposed to act.
Similarly, “American Dream” mocks the concept it’s named after, implying that an idyllic life no longer exists when most of us “can’t find a job…can’t fall in love…can’t start a family” in this economy. It would be easy to drift right into despair with a song like that but the chanting chorus and stomping drums keep it upbeat. And the very next track, “In Love with Myself” reminds us that, at the end of the day, as long as we like ourselves, it doesn’t matter what other people think.
With Pillows & Therapy, Weathers manages to capture a range of universal experiences all while keeping your feet tapping and your head bopping. I’m excited to see where their introspection takes them next.
Buy it, Stream it, or Skip it? Stream it the next time you see your friends because I guarantee every single one of you will find something relatable in these songs.
