I really have to say something about No Motiv. When I first heard them, it was in preparation of a concert I was going to when they were opening for Strung Out about four years ago. I didn’t really like their first two albums aside from a few songs. They had a distinct sound, but their lyrics, like advice from a comforting friend, didn’t quite match. This band was like those kids I never really knew in high school, who weren’t popular but had their own clique nonetheless, and spent their free time making up songs and practicing their instruments. The guys I’d sort of root for, not because their music blew me away, but because there was no one to appreciate them.

Their latest album, however, takes things in a different direction, hinted at in the album title “Daylight Breaking”. It’s darker, it’s moodier, and it’s more developed. Jeremy has clearly become more confident with his singing, and this goes hand-in-hand with the new range of sound that they’ve developed, from quiet and barren to heavy and angry. In previous albums, he sounded constricted, but now screams emotionally with controlled unrestraint. The lyrics demonstrate a new maturity, and present a logical progression from their previous work. This is the album that they were meant to write, an album that makes them musicians and not just band members.

Now, as I listen to their older material, everything clicks, and I realize that I just wasn’t ready for this music four years ago. I don’t have any music that’s quite like this; a journey through a coming-of-age that’s filled with energetic hopefulness, along with the ups and downs associated with personal growth, a sort of inspiring sadness. The lyrics bring me back to being a teenager again, when I thought people on TV were normal, and believed that I should have been going through the same dainty problems. It makes me think of what I wanted to experience a long time ago, but never had the chance.