Weight (Blue)

That Weight, the latest album from New Jersey group Well Wisher, is mostly a cathartic burst of catchy, feverish punk rock that addresses the heaviness of personal trauma without being suffocated by it's gravity. After the release of 2018's This Is Fine, front leader and Asbury DIY mainstay Natalie Newbold found herself writing solemn acoustic songs that strayed far from the band's venture into pop-punk finery on their debut. "I was at a really weird period of time for me in terms of my writing where I wasn't sure what I wanted to do," Newbold says about the beginning stages of the sophomore record. "I was in this darker headspace of writing sad, slow songs." After convening with her bandmates Lynsey Vandenberg, Matt Viani, and Lucas Dalakian, she realized this new direction wasn't working. Lots of reflection and rewriting resulted in Well Wisher's newfound fire for heart-on-your-sleeve punk with bits of experimental folk rock. The twelve tracks on That Weight are a confluence of the group's uncentered rock influences like Breeders and the Pixies and Newbold's initial somber acoustic influences Elliott Smith, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. "We were going for more of an In Utero/Pinkerton kind of thing."1. Need You Around2. Panic3. Do Better4. Miserable5. Let Me Down6. Emily7. Surface Love8. D o You Like The Waves9. 29 10. Recovery11. That Weight12. Something Good