It’s been five years since wild, beloved surf punks FIDLAR released an album, and the time away has certainly led to some changes. Following a hiatus prolonged by the pandemic, the band has come out the other side with a changed attitude towards the hard-partying lifestyle their earlier music embraced. One of the major factors contributing to this was vocalist/guitarist Zac Carper getting diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. While this newfound maturity has led to a lyrically more introspective band, it thankfully has done nothing to tamper down their frenetic energy and melodic sensibilities. In fact, Surviving the Dream may be the group’s most consistently accessible album to date.
That’s not to say the band has suddenly gone “pop”. As Carper caws out “It’s too hard to fix me. I know you’ll try. And if you fall in love, then just give it time, cause I’m the type of crazy that’s not the cute type. I get high, or I’m gonna die” on opening track “Fix Me” over sludgy riffs, there’s no doubt the band is still firmly rooted in the DIY punk aesthetics that have led them to self-record and produce past albums. The energetic guitars that come next are still frenetic and bleeding punk spirit, yet also as hooky as the band has ever been.
This track clearly is referencing Carper’s diagnosis, and ties into the album’s overall themes of the consequences of drugs abuse and hard partying on one’s mental health and relationships. While on earlier songs like “West Coast”, the band seemed to revel in their carefree youth, but here they are admitting to themselves that they “gotta let it go so you can start to grow” (from the grunge punk anthem “Low”), and that they’ve grown out of enjoying weekends full if inebriation (“I just want to have fun, but I keep fucking up. I keep getting drunk” on “Down N Out”). At their darkest moments, Carper lament the relationships that have been so badly damaged by alcoholism, that the regrets have left him admitting “I don’t think I’m suicidal, I just want to die.”
Carper’s struggles with depression and mental illness are turned into bubblegum punk on “Making Shit Up”, and the musical conflict between the clap-happy, Weezer-esque 4/4 beat on “Change” and the full-throated screamed vocals perfect encapsulates the directionless wonderings at the heart of growing old.
Even at their most morbid, the tracks here still glow with fast and furious hooks, effervescent pop-punk guitar riffs and beachy gang choruses that evoke the joyous summer insanity of youth. The band can still rip and rage, like on the heavy “Get Off of My Wave”, and embrace hyper-pop sensibilities on the sing-along “Sad Kids” and “I Don’t Want to Do This”. The group also still knows how to let a succinct lyric delivery work as a hook, like on the scuzz-punk diatribe “Nudge”. Drummer Max Kuehn and bassist Brandon Schwartzel get a chance to shine on this stripped down track, though Kuehn has a number of highlights throughout, getting show off some more complex time signatures, and heavy bashing fury.
Not all is fury here. One of the most clear signs of a maturing band are the moments of clear vulnerability, like on the mid-tempo “Break Your Heart” (“I feel left out even though my friends are all around. I’m losing touch cause of growing up fucked up. I’m in love, but I kind of miss doing drugs”) or the gentle, disarmingly pretty closer “Hurt”, where Carper lets out hard truths about himself, admitting “I don’t know how to be a man” and distorted beliefs from a fucked-up life (“You won’t find love if you don’t get hurt”).
Call it a party record about leaving partying behind. Though there’s weariness in the lyrics, the music remains an adrenaline rush that you’ll want to blast loud. Surviving the Dream is out September 20, and you can listen to the pre-released songs here!
The Indy Review 
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