Album Review: Fossil Youth – A Glimpse Of Self Joy

The Massachusetts based independent label Take This To Heart Records are releasing Fossil Youth‘s new album, A Glimpse Of Self Joy, on November 4th. This is their debut full length and follows on from their 2015 Intertwined With You EP. The Oklahoma quartet have recruited Jay Maas to produce and mix the album after his sterling work on releases by Citizen, The Menzingers and Somos.

A Glimpse Of Self Joy is an album of emo influenced pop punk that veers between the mid paced and melancholy numbers that drift over you in a not unpleasant manner, alongside the prominent influences that were previously mentioned, there are hints of math rock and post hardcore thrown into the mix, but for all their accomplishments I can’t shake the feeling that the album is missing a key ingredient. A Glimpse Of Self Joy is an album that ebbs and flows across it’s twelve tracks, all the while maintaining their signature sound, but it never quite seems to get into gear and put it’s foot down.

I found myself urging A Glimpse Of Self Joy to have something to lift it, as this is by no means a bad album, but it’s missing something to make it stand out from the pack. The compositions on the album are deeply personal and the album skillfully sits astride to worlds of emo and the more downbeat side of pop punk, but for me you can’t encapsulate the human condition without including the upbeat side and this album, somewhat ironically, seems to be missing the very thing the album title suggests, A Glimpse Of Self Joy.

A Glimpse Of Self Joy can be ordered on physical and digital formats here