Western Settings – Another Year LP (A-F Records / Gunner Records)

Western Settings have announced a brand new material on A-F Record and Gunner Records back in August, but somehow I’ve forgotten about it after the band has premiered a single track named Break alongside with the following announcement. Thankfully, Another Year already got some positive reviews on several websites and blogs, so Another Year appears to be unavoidable if you’re music geek like me. Formed in 2013. in San Diego, Western Settings already possess four releases under their belt, such as Western Settings EP (2014), Yes It Is LP (2015), Old Pain EP (2016), Western Settings EP (2016), plus dozen of appearances on numerous split releases and compilations. Another Year is their second full-length album comprised of eleven relatively melancholic, but definitely melodic pop-punk songs that will melt your heart out. Western Settings has developed as a band and this brand new recording is living proof of how the band can evolve in a positive direction, both lyrically and musically. The band incorporates numerous topics in their compositions, but they mainly focus on admitting an imminent uncertainty of living with unpredictability, no matter if we’re arguing about hours, days, months, years or even decades. Western Settings are putting seasons in the size of days with this recording, their melodies are like a tiny soul healing clusters that are attaining from various directions, and all the chord progressions are thoughtfully implemented in this record. These aforementioned melodies are so subtle, calmy, relaxing, but highly notable throughout the entire album and they’re definitely pairing to the growly vocals of the main vocalist Ricky Schmidt. The subtle solos are not only highlighting all the guitar shreddings but also emphasize guitar dualities between Will Castro and Thomas House who are gloriously matching one another on Another Year. It’s also good to mention that Dylan Wolter has rejoined the band after the recording of Another Year and has replaced Thomas House on guitars. Nothing of these would be achievable without the huge support of a magnificent rhythm section comprised of Ricky Schmidt on bass guitar and Adam Kissel on drums. The rhythm section sounds so confident, it has a lot of attitude and it’s such a great contrast to the gentle melodies. The compositions are thoughtfully combined into one complete piece, so you’ll probably notice that the entire album sounds like a colossal book narrated in eleven wonderful stories. Another Year has been published by A-F Records in the US and Gunner Records in Europe, so I strongly advise you to grab this wondrous album and let yourself in the beautiful world of melodic pop-punk music.