Into It. Over It.- Proper
I don’t know one person who hasn’t at least HEARD of Into It. Over It., aka Evan Thomas Weiss (Formerly of The Progress, briefly of Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start [Girls Names EP] and Daimera, current Stay Ahead Of The Weather). The guy, clearly, has a long resume of successful bands and bands that have garnered well deserved hype not to mention his non-stop touring schedules. After moving to Chicago, IL Evan decided to write one song a week for a whole year then call it quits. The resulting 52 Weeks (No Sleep) got plenty of press and he decided to keep it going. Releasing split after split after split (With bands like Pswingset, Such Gold, Everyone Everywhere [the Philadelphia one], CSTVT, and Bob Nanna & Lauren Lo) Proper is his follow up to his No Sleep debut.
While it’s a departure from 52 Weeks and many of the songs on the splits (Recently compiled on Twelve Towns on Topshelf records), it’s definitively an Into It. Over It. record. Recorded with Ed Rose (who engineered many a Get Up Kids record, as well as releases from The Appleseed Cast, The Casket Lottery, and more) the record is top to bottom quality. The songs are some of Weiss’ strongest, and overall one of his best releases. To try and describe this as pop punk or emo is a bit of a stretch, the songs have pop hooks, insightful lyrics, great, well thought melodies that transcribe to both rock and it’s subgenres; and at the same time the enthusiasm of a community all rolled into one 12-song release. This record showcases some of Weiss’ straight forward songwriting as evident with his old band, The Progress. That shows for the particular reason that this isn’t a project. 52 Weeks was a compilation of songs written every week for a whole year and the 12 Towns project was, obviously, 12 songs about different towns. And on top of that, he released a split with Koji about five different Chicago neighborhoods. The opportunity to pigeon hole this release is slimmed down to margins.
Songs like ‘Fortunate Friends’ and ‘Where Your Nights Often End’ show two different sides of Into It. Over It. Songs like ‘Midnight: Carroll Street’ meet somewhere in the middle, in a post-hardcore, post-punk void that you can hear traces of peers like Grown Ups, CSTVT, and My Heart To Joy (RIP) which adequately holds together traces of bands like Braid, Guided By Voices, and late era Sunny Day Real Estate. This record is mature and focused. A lot of people say that it could have been the next Stay Ahead Of The Weather release, but at it’s core, SAOTW was an arm of IIOI, the pop punk roots that got lost a little bit. At it’s core, I think that this IIOI release shows that growing older doesn’t mean you can out grow topics that apply to kids and adults. Songs about breaking up, the deaths of close friends, growing older and growing up, those are universal topics that bands like Braid and other founding fathers of emo made careers on. They don’t suddenly become obsolete when you hit 27.
Into It. Over It. is currently out with Frank Turner and Andrew Jackson Jihad. I highly recommend taking a trip out to one of those shows. I’m wicked proud of a good guy and a solid friend for this release, one of my personal favorite this year (I’m a little biased, so what?) Proper out now on No Sleep.
