#8. Hellogoodbye – Would It Kill You?

Part 1: Goodbye

Goodbye dancebeats.

Goodbye vocoder and autotune.

Goodbye harmonizers and other techno vocal effects.

Goodbye contrived Warped Tour emo-punk sass.

Goodbye synth bass lines.

Goodbye synthesizers in general.

Goodbye frequency scratches.

Goodbye filtered drum fills and vocal responses.

Goodbye 808 kick drums.

Goodbye drum machines in general.

Goodbye high school diary lyrics.

Goodbye unnecessarily overwrought vocal deliveries.

Goodbye Kelly Clarkson choruses.

Goodbye chugging, palm-muted guitars.

Goodbye heavy-handed punk guitar in general.

Goodbye panning delays.

Goodbyedouble-time to half-time breaks.

Goodbye Jason Mraz ukulele interludes.

Goodbye Drive-Thru records.

Goodbye comparisons to Panic At The Disco and Fall Out Boy.

Goodbye comparisons to The All-American Rejects, Say Anything, and The Academy Is…

Part 2: Hello

Hello tambourine.

Hello effervescent vocal melodies.

Hello vintage pop influences (Zombies? Buddy Holly?).

Hello tenor sax.

Hello string section.

Hello soulful, unaffected vocals.

Hello acoustic guitar.

Hello vintage guitar tone.

Hello xylophone.

Hello horn section.

Hello sardonic lyrics.

Hello earnest lyrics.

Hello dynamics.

Hello mandolin.  Or is that you again, ukulele?  Either way, thanks for the uptempo strumming this time.

Hello shimmering reverb.

Hello real piano.

Hello feathery-soft organ pulses.

Hello Grammy-worthy production from Matt Mahaffey (<3), without Jeff Turzo getting his grubby, synthy hands in there.

Hello random laser sound blasting through a huge orchestral lurch.  You’re fun.

Hello “Betrayed By Bones”.  You’re huge.  I love it.

Hello canned drum machine.  You’re quite tasteful.  You can stay.

Hello again ukulele.  You’re lucky this song is so good.

Hello innate pop savvy.  Knew you were in there somewhere.  Good to see I was right.

Hello comparisons to Phantom Planet, fun., The Features, The Shins, Rogue Wave

Hello Forrest Kline.  Your band sounds infinitely better now.  Your Daytrotter session from 2009 hinted at promise, but Would It Kill You? really delivers.  Please keep it up and never look back.