Album Review: Trophy Eyes – Suicide and Sunshine (Hopeless Records)

Just like the title Suicide and Sunshine, Trophy Eyes’ fourth album is about contrast. About light and dark. About beauty and tragedy. About the full spectrum of life, as told through the eyes of frontman John Floreani.

Says Floreani:

It’s the human experience. What we experience and how we navigate it. The millions of tiny flashes of light that are memories and thoughts and feelings and smells, all those little moments make up a lifetime. They’re beautifully tragic because they don’t mean anything to anyone, and on the scale of everything in the universe don’t mean a damn thing. But it’s so beautiful that they happen in the first place.

Suicide and Sunshine is out on June 23rd, 2023, via Hopeless Records.

How this album is interpreted and how it relates to an individual life will be different and deeply personal for everyone. The one thing we all have in common is the human experience and the ability to enjoy Trophy Eyes. Who are at their most authentic and anthemic here. Delivering a 14-track album of heart and soul.

The passion is on full display with the intro track, Sydney. The vocals are screamed out, but it’s not heavy music in conventional sense. Then along comes the phenomenal Life in Slow Motion. A wonderfully moving track that is all about melodic reflection, which really pays off. It’s a ‘mouth open’ kind of track and the bar setter for the entire album.

An album that is packed with catchy delights. Starting with an energising experimental blend of intensity and pop-punk on People Like You. Followed then by a bit more melodrama with My Inheritance, a track that is extremely comforting. Before Blue Eyed Boy finds Trophy Eyes hit another exceptional high through the power of their infectious honesty and relatability.

Being stupidly catchy and impressively authentic keeps coming up when talking about this album because both aspects are the biggest takeaways of it. It’s also quite rare to get both sides constant and consistent across so many tracks. Runway Come Home, Burden, Sean, What Hurts the Most, OMW, the middle part of the record continues to enrich the mind and the soul.

In a lot of circumstances, having reached this stage of the album, listeners might be feeling some sort of burnout. Yet, most will likely just be feeling excitement for what comes next as Trophy Eyes continue to delight. First with the passionate, powerful, and heart-felt punk rock tune that is Kill. Another wonderful track with a chorus that is deliciously infectious. Then with the aptly titled Sweet Soft Sound, the modernised and accessible Stay Here, and the wry smile-inducing Epilogue. The latter part of the album as strong as everything that came before it.

The best thing Trophy Eyes have ever put out? For many, there’s going to be no denying that.

Trophy Eyes – Suicide and Sunshine Track Listing:

1. Sydney
2. Life in Slow Motion
3. People Like You
4. My Inheritance
5. Blue Eyed Boy
6. Runaway Come Home
7. Burden
8. Sean
9. What Hurts the Most
10. OMW
11. Kill
12. Sweet Soft Sound
13. Stay Here
14. Epilogue

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