When a band you love announces a reunion, it can go one of two drastically different ways. With a band you truly adore, one you have listened to for years, a bad or even a mediocre reunion record can make a huge difference in how you think about that band years down the road.
Yellowcard, a group of Jacksonville natives who made their rise to popularity during the crucial formative years of many of today’s college-aged listeners, avoided the dreaded weak comeback record last year. The band got back together after a three-year hiatus to release the entertaining (albeit safe) “When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes.” The album was a refreshing reintroduction to a group that shaped many of our middle and high school years, but it wasn’t something truly special.
With “Southern Air,” Yellowcard’s sixth studio album, the band isn’t playing it safe anymore. As a result, they’ve put out what seems to be the strongest collection of songs they are capable of. It’s evident from the combustible guitars on opener “Awakening” that the band wants to start things off with a kick, and vocalist Ryan Key soars in the chorus of, “Bottoms up tonight / I drink to you and I / ‘Cause with the morning comes the rest of my life.”
There’s a good mix of everything we’ve come to love about Yellowcard on “Southern Air.” The first-released song “Always Summer” is pretty much exactly what it sounds like — a purely windows-down, blast-out-loud tune for the hot weather. Not to mention, Sean Mackin’s lengthy violin solo in the bridge certainly delivers. The first single “Here I Am Alive” contributes in a different way with its more laid-back and pop feel. Its uplifting message and easy sing-alongs make it a candidate for alternative rock radio charts.
The album’s greatest moments come near the end of the sequencing. The punk-infused beat of “Rivertown Blues” sounds like it could have made the ideal opening track, but having it lingering near the back end of the album provides an awesome punch to the mouth after the brooding “Telescope.” The guitar work hits a peak on “Rivertown Blues,” mainly because of Ryan Mendez’s ripping solo. It’s followed by probably the saddest song Key has ever written, “Ten,” a heart-wrenching tale of a child lost. Key somberly delivers the lines, “You would be watching “Star Wars” with your PJs on / And you would have all the love in my heart / Don’t you think we would have been best friends?” over an emotive violin line from Mackin, making for Key’s most intimate work in years.
The closing title track is one of the best songs Yellowcard has written, with its lengthy instrumental bridge providing a perfect jam session to end the album. The lyrics here deliver the message of the record, which Key has said was inspired by the time he spent at home in Georgia with his family while Yellowcard was on hiatus. As the album closes out, Key sings, “This southern air is all I need / Breathe it in and I can see canvases behind my eyes / All the colors of my life / This southern air is in my lungs / It’s in every word I’ve sung / Seems the only truth I know, this will always be home.” Something relatable enough for UF students, as many of us have grown up with a little southern air in our lungs.
Where “Southern Air” hits its greatest triumph, and why it is such an essential listen, is in the prowess of Key’s lyrics. This is a record you play loudly, because there’s no other way to play it. This is a record you yell along to, because you don’t care what you sound like. “Paper Walls” stands as a worthy contender, but “Southern Air” may very well be the defining work of Yellowcard’s already storied career.
