New Music Faster : The Wonder Years

New Music From Pennsylvania’s The Wonder Years!

By Hannah Greve

I have been a fan of The Wonder Years for quite some time now. When I heard that they were working on new music I was so excited. They started by teasing the new album in January. Some fans received post cards with what we now know is the album cover, and the back had lyrics to the title track of their album. This was not the only thing that teased the new album, some fans received a seven-inch record that had a spoken word poem that was in a bunch of different languages on it and a new song. Fans immediately took to Twitter and the fan base blew up. Unfortunately I was not one of those lucky fans, but we all had the excitement of being able to hear a new song.  A fan also translated the spoken word on Twitter.

This is the translation:

A few days later the band’s Twitter account finally responded with another riddle for fans to figure out. The band’s Twitter featured a photo with the link www.withpinsandstring.com and “I left pins on a map. I’m handing you the string. Tie them together. Unite us…”. Hindsight is 20/20, but WOW was that a major hint to what was coming our way. That website asked for a password and fans found the coordinates of posters around the world and figured out the password together. That unlocked the teaser video for their newest album, Sister Cities.

This video was tear jerking, at least for me. Yes, I teared up at the end of it. It begins with the lead singer, Dan Campbell, saying “I feel like if you’ve been following The Wonder Years, this is where it’s been going”. Then a song, which the title was unknown to us at the time, starts playing. The video is a little over three minutes and has clips of in-studio video, along with clips from concerts and their travels. They talk about the process and story of this new album. The band documented the past two years of their lives and really dug deep into their emotions for this album. There are videos, poems, and pictures that act as companion pieces to their songs. They talk about how this album was created on exactly what they were feeling and seeing. In my opinion, there are no words that I am able to come up with to describe this video. So please, watch the video and grab some tissues because it may make you tear up.

After watching the video, I had a feeling that this may just be their best album yet. From then they released two singles and announced their U.S. headlining tour. “Sister Cities” was their first released single, after that came “Pyramids of Salt.” I fell in love with both of those songs and listened to them on replay for about a week. When the day finally came for the album to be released, it somehow slipped my mind. I was up binge watching Netflix and then BAM I saw on Twitter that the album was out. I immediately listened to the entire thing.

This entire album is perfection from start to finish. It evokes strong emotion due to the amount of imagery in the lyrics, the mesmerizing drums and bass line in every song. Sister Cities is an album you can listen to in its entirety, no matter what emotion you may be feeling. It is there to remind you that you are not alone even if you feel like you are, that it is okay to feel helpless at times, to appreciate those around you and the experiences that you get. Don’t forget where you came from, and don’t forget that you’re alive. This may just be their best album yet.