Mom Jeans. Put Out Emotional, Poppy Breakup Banger with New Album Sweet Tooth
4.7 out of 5 stars
Mom Jeans. is a Berkeley, California based emo/punk rock act that started around 2014 and have released two albums prior to their newest release Sweet Tooth which came out on February 25th, 2022.
The album is a non-stop, pop-rock powerhouse of fun loving songs that don’t get overly serious, but they also have some depth of context as well. What I mean by that is the overall songs tend to be upbeat and hopeful or even downright happy sounding, while most of the lyrics still contain memories of heartbreak, anxiety or depression within them.
It’s a great combination that makes for good songs in general, but they are especially clever and clean in a great pop-punk or emo song.
A great example of this is the song “What’s Up?” where the lyrics are self-deprecating and self-reflective, but the melody and instrumentation of the song could easily have you overlooking the depth of the meaning.
These lines are almost humorous in the context of the song, but I would bet that when they were written, it wasn’t in a joking manner:
The instrumentation on songs like “White Trash Millionaire” show that the band is really technical and capable of making some pretty intricate and really tight sounding rock music as well. It really shows the experience and professionalism of the band that could easily be overlooked by their lack of taking themselves too seriously.
Keeping with the theme of the album’s name, the songs “Something Sweet” and “Sugar Rush” are pretty poppy songs that are produced in a way to have that sound of more pop than punk for those who like their punk that way. However, the latter goes pretty intense into subject matter speaking about the anxiety and frustration that builds up with life and relationships.
The band has a lot of influence from bands like Blink-182, but you can also hear other influences in there (perhaps even Ben Folds Five on songs like “Graduating Life”). Speaking of that song, obviously, knowing that the title means that someone is dying, it seems almost like a memorial song to someone who is living in the hopes that they will reconsider propelling themselves towards their own mortality. I am not sure who the song is about, but to have it written about them is pretty intense.
The band has a complex way of fitting lyrics into the measures of their songs, and it is pretty noticeable in a few songs, but probably the best example of this is to listen to “Luv L8r” where the chorus seems to over run its meter, but it doesn’t sound bad or out of place. It’s quite cool to see bands do this. Another band that I know that can do this well is Kali Masi.
Another major theme that will be VERY noticeable throughout the album is a big breakup. The song “Crybaby (On The Phone)” is definitely a prominent display of how poorly a breakup can go, and how a grown man tries to deal with it (or just completely derails the “dealing” part).
A really funny song title (though lyrically complicated) is “Anime Theme Song” because I can almost guarantee the name stems from the drum beat and subsequent keys that go with it as every time I have ever played that same beat on drums, it reminds me of The Powerpuff Girls theme song or any other anime song I have ever heard. Kudos on that call out.
The final piece of the Sweet Tooth puzzle comes in the last song, “Teeth” which draws back into the “cavity” of the relationship and the souring of it as it likely started out so sweet, but rotted with time and neglect.
I would say this album overall is a lot of fun to listen to whether you connect to the lyrics or not. It’s upbeat, fun, and meaningful which are the three best components of pop-punk, in my opinion.
I would highly recommend you check out this album if you haven’t already.