La Dispute
Panorama

There's this car traveling on the straight road, in the middle of nowhere. Behind, the city gets smaller and smaller, now houses, skyscrapers, and trees are indistinct figures in the rearview mirror. In that now distant city, there was too much pain. Too many negative memories, too many moments of a life that should have disappeared, but instead, they are still there, tormenting the mind.
The old against the new. Pain against the search for peace. And in between, that road, marked by small objects that remind us of something, or someone. A road that many have traveled to try to rebuild a better life. That many have traveled hoping to leave behind the past, to turn the page. Every plastic flower, every single object populating the edge of that stretch of road tells a different story. Stories that are the heart of Panorama, the new album by La Dispute.

The band from Grand Rapids, Michigan, returns after five years with a new album and continues to tell us stories of people who want to change, people who have suffered but are in the relentless search for a reason to improve, find happiness. Tormented people populate the lyrics of Jordan Dreyer, the band's narrative voice. His unmistakable spoken-word is still intense, deep, emotional. When storytelling isn't enough, Jordan raises his voice, screams impactful phrases with his high-pitched scream, filled with intense violence that expresses anger, frustration, and determination.
“Fulton Street I” and “Fulton Street II” tell about this journey from one city to another, this journey taken with the desire to forget, to leave behind stories of a dark past and look forward, to a new future. Every road tells a different story, every road is paved with vastly different lives yet filled with the same pain, the same desire for redemption.

And I saw signs on the shoulder of the interstate / When I followed your eyes / And I saw lights fading every monument / And the passage of time / If I could just try, could I banish all the pain in you?

In “Rhodonite And Grief” we find a narrator trying to comfort a partner in a difficult moment. He gives her small gifts, does small daily things for her to show his support. Yet he knows he will never be able to experience the same pain firsthand, just as none of us will ever know what sufferings lie inside every person we know. Pains that we perceive only partly, and that we perhaps try to alleviate by bringing a smile to our loved ones, providing comfort and support. But the pain remains deep down, and others will never truly know the intensity of that distress, of that difficult moment. The trumpet midway through the song evokes the melancholic mood of American Football, but this is one of those tracks now with the La Dispute trademark: poignant, heart-wrenching, goosebump-inducing.

Winter, we huddled in anger / Spring, sadness sinking in / Summer, accept all departures / Then autumn, start again.

For their fourth studio album, La Dispute has found the right mix of the raw and violent sounds of their early records with the softer and more mature sounds of their more recent works. The fury of Wildlife (released in 2011) here meets the refined melancholy of Rooms Of The House (from 2014), creating tracks that are real bombs, songs that are a punch in the face that makes you spill the most sincere emotions. The lyrics are the usual great visceral writings of Jordan Dreyer, who once again proves to be a master at narrating pieces of lived life, extracting from every single word his feelings, his pain, and his anger.
Michigan, the band's homeland, has always been a great source of inspiration. The desolate frozen landscapes, the endless winters, the long straight roads where huge trucks speed by. The cold waters of the lakes, swallowing logs, bodies, and troubled souls. Michigan is described in minute detail, and these details are central elements of La Dispute's magic. A magic that exudes melancholy, sadness, and frustration. A magic that shows the strong bond with their land, but also the desire to leave it behind, to find inner peace.

“Footsteps At The Pond” is a three-and-a-half-minute tour-de-force, where Jordan's shouted voice focuses on the differences that have created a rift in a friendship that seemed indissoluble. A relationship that seemed perfect, that has always been precious. A friendship that has been broken by differences now appearing impossible to bridge. Differences that separate and cause suffering. The post-hardcore roots here return powerfully, in one of the most biting and potent tracks of the entire album. An extraordinary track, surrounded by a cathartic emotional fury, with a crescendo of power that sends shivers and confirms La Dispute's ability to penetrate beneath the skin and hit straight in the gut and the heart.

I just wanted you to carry on and carry me / I guess I wanted you to need the things I needed you to be.

Panorama closes with the more than seven minutes of “You Ascendant“, where all the elegance of La Dispute is condensed. Jordan is phenomenal, his voice is subdued and vibrant, while the guitars accompany him gently, mournful, and magnificently elegant. Guitars that explode like a Molotov thrown at you, made of emotions that burn and annihilate us. Love, pain, anger, sadness, and despair. Seven minutes of rollercoaster, seven minutes of emotions that tear apart, bleed, and move.

The fourth album from La Dispute is beautiful, there is nothing else to say. A powerful record, capable of stirring us inside. An album that manages to shake our soul with punches to the stomach and lumps in the throat. Ten practically perfect tracks, that never stop hurting us and giving us food for thought. Reflections on our life, on the people close to us daily. Reflections on our past, on our continuous attempt to reach the glimpse of happiness that we always see in front of us but seems unattainable.
Panorama is a spectacular album, a stunningly straightforward and honest record. It is La Dispute's post-hardcore elevated up there, near perfection. It is the definitive consecration of a band unique in its kind. Panorama is a true masterpiece, and I already know I won't listen to anything else for a long time.