The Backseat Lovers have out done themselves with the release of their Sophomore Album, Waiting to Spill, incorporating new levels of unique and complex instrumentals and vocals that create a deeply personal album.

The Utah based quartet is made up of Joshua Harmon (lead vocals/guitar), Jonas Swanson (lead guitar/vocals), Juice Welch (drums/background vocals), and KJ Ward (bass guitar).  Prior to this release the band’s projects included their 2018 EP Elevator Days , and  their 2019 album When We Were Friends and Waiting to Spill this past October.

Waiting to Spill explains about the experience of growing up and all its fears, challenges, and emotions. Their new album sonically and lyrically holds tones of nostalgia. This is a nice contrast to their past work, When We Were Friends, Where lyrically it encompassed the genuine actuality of teenhood with a high energy delivery. This album shifts to a more mature topic of looking at who they are as individuals and the reality of if they really are content with that.

Close Your Eyes touches on the nostalgic feeling of looking back on childhood. Harmon explains how he’s growing up and how he’s slowly displaying qualities of his father, but dreads and resents being like him. Harmon and Swanson sing the repeated and anxious  line “I’d hate to get any older”, ultimately displaying their shared fear of growing up and being adults.

Track three, Morning in the Aves, is a slow and mellow track. Harmon takes us on a trip to his hometown and reminisces about how life in his youth was so much easier and more innocent than now. He feels as though everything he used to know slipped away from him, Harmon sings “Christmas comes & crumbs fill up your bed/Put your tapes in the VCR/Help those days feel not so far behind you/Broke the looking glass/Didn’t grow up too fast/Wish it all could last.” The song dies out almost like a knowing on Harmon’s  knowing that he will never experience his youth ever again.

The band took everything they’re known for and amplified it for Growing/Dying, the fourth track off the album. The rock tones, heavy drums accompanied with echoes and screeches of electric guitars, and of course Harmons vocals. The lead singer’s notorious vocals follow throughout the album but are very apparent in this specific track. The song starts off with the metaphor of feeling like a plant that is constantly “growing and dying” and how that reflects his state of mind. The song slowly builds and this annoyance and irritation that is heard tenses up throughout. Towards the end of the song, we can hear an agonizing scream, like this constant battle to stay afloat is taking a toll on Harmon leading him to feel crestfallen, worn, and defeated. 

Track five, Words I Used, is the midway point of the album. This somber and wistful song is one of their first songs that is mainly piano that throughout the track, spirals into a more cheery musical beat. Swanson and Harmon seem to reminisce on past relationships that didn’t work out. The song itself almost feels like a last letter to the person, “Tried my best this time/To keep your hand in mine/But it’s written out & I’m ripping out the page/And I’m afraid there’s no more room to stay/I’m afraid there’s nothing left to say”. 

Viciously Lonely is the tenth and last track of the album. As they close and finish the album, this song seems to be an evaluation of the present and where Harmon is in his life. He explains how his mental health has taken a toll on him, singing “But as my youth, begins to expire/ I’ll slowly put a little less wood on the fire/ But maybe it’ll turn, like a roll of old film/ Or a bottle of wine, that’s been/ Waiting To Spill”. 

He recites the title of the album “Waiting to Spill” in the last line of the verse, and it seems to be the overall idea of the album. The old saying of wine getting split is said to bring good luck, He looks back on how he’s grown, but he feels as though he’s burnt out. Harmon seems to hope that as he looks back on past memories that he can look forward to more exciting and grander things in the future. The album ends with the sounds of a rainstorm and a sliding door opening with far off humming to the melody. 

Waiting to Spill is sentimental, nostalgic and has the potential to romanticize the listener’s past. The cohesive collection of tracks executed by the band shares the feeling of the ongoing fear of growing up, leading to a longing of living the life we once may have had.