Rapture Waltz by Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards

Review written by Yippee_173

Rapture Waltz, a 11 song album created by Johnny Manchild and his 6 other bandmates, the Poor Bastards, is an alternative/indie rock album that can be seen also as a definitive depiction of midwest emo. The album contains different overlapping themes such as relationship struggles, abandonment, and mental illness/suicidal thoughts. Although this album is about deeper and more vulnerable topics, this does not stop the band from bringing expressive and energetic energy to the songs. Their musical diversity is what fans have come to know as they use jazzy experimentalism with high highs and low lows. There is a healthy balance of soft twinkling songs, jazzy noir-adjacent songs, and abrasive spiraling songs that all share the same feelings of resentment and wretchedness.

When listening to this album, I am pulled to two separate yet intertwined environments imaginatively: one among the crowd at a small town bar performance and the other within Johnny Manchild’s bedroom or mind. While these two places may be seemingly different, there is a certain connection that happens due to which songs play one after one another. They will play a song that is loud, emotional, and head bouncy but will then play a song that brings the listener to a personal candid view of what Johnny is thinking nights before performing. Whether he is thinking of just creating interesting lyrical rhythm or daydreaming about his own anguish becomes inseparable during these close moments as it feels like the intrusive thoughts have the control bar attached to the puppet that is Johnny. There is a sense of both emotional theatricality and drowning melancholy that happen throughout this entire album, which dance in such unison that I see the need for it to be called a waltz.

Speaking further on this juxtaposition, the songs are conducted in a way that you can feel the hope slowly trickling away from Johnny’s voice in each song’s starts higher but ends in a lower tone. There is also plenty of Johnny’s habitual vibrato and tremolo but with his twist of it sounding clear and unstrained, yet eternally yearning. This tickling and longing is also further catalyzed by the long protracted vocals that are held on different endings and important words. What sets the polarization for the performative songs versus the introspective ones is the consistent use of long drawn-out notes within the melody with the only difference being that they inject punchy, in-your-face notes into the performative songs. These create a sense of panic and manic that are familiar within the rock genre, as well as midwest emo, and are what allows for these to have their energy.

Moving onward from the structure, the amount of instrumental variation within this album is astonishing as they use loads of different instruments that allow for these songs to be cross-genre. While many of the songs have loads of layering to add depth, there is also plenty of contrast to be found during the slower ones as the band will then choose to use as minimal instrumentation as possible to allow the lyrics to carry the weight. Most songs will use drums, piano, cymbals, tambourine, guitar, and other instruments in combination while some will simply use just a piano or keyboard. During many songs there are different instrument families that are united but have their own solo segments that allow for much of the drama and angst to build. Much of this can be seen when the choruses are layered while later bridges or solos will give headway for the purely brass or purely string instruments to take the lead.

Pushing forward, what I feel makes them an amazing and talented group in the modern age of music is how they push the bounds of genre and subject matter through their eclectic instrumentation, their raw, unbridled lyricism and their rapidly undulating vocal structures. There is so much dynamism to be heard and felt within this album, all while hearing the truly painful woes of Johnny Manchild as he contemplates his worth. While much of the themes and topics discussed are not new to the alternative and indie rock genres, their sound stands out due to the genre shifting that they bring. Most bands within the genre usually stay stagnant, while this group experiments and pushes the limits of its potential without straying too far. The amount of emotion that grabs hold, thrashing at both the heart and the mind, is enough to feel those woes for ourselves along with our own existentialism. These crises, paired with the jazzy tones that tango with the alt rock genre, create a bombardment of waves that have both the musicians and the listeners struggling against the thought waves of purpose and interpersonal relationships.

Overall, I think that this album deals with the concepts of mental illness, relationships and abandonment in a mature tone. It has so much thought and care put into every single one of the lyrics that show the true, unfiltered struggles that someone can have concerning their life and its goals. There is so much to unpack with each song but each is able to speak on its own about problems that he faces, all framed within angsty yet meaningful pacing that dances on the brain tauntingly. There is so much chaos but tranquility that can be found across the album, which I think fits with the concept of rapture perfectly, as the silence that is depression can also be deafening and disturbing. Hopefully others will be able to find as much solace and understanding as I have within this album as we all dance this destructive path we call life.