| The Brightest Days | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Mixtape by | ||||
| Released | June 16, 2023 | |||
| Genre | Emo | |||
| Length | 22:09 | |||
| Label | Counter Intuitive | |||
| Origami Angel chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Brightest Days | ||||
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The Brightest Days is the debut mixtape by American emo duo Origami Angel, released on June 16, 2023. According to the band, the reason it is called a mixtape is because "the differences between each track on The Brightest Days are what makes it such a special release." [1] [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Exclaim! | 8/10 [3] |
| CaliberTV | 8.5/10 [4] |
| Paste | 7.2/10 [5] |
Writing for Paste , Grant Sharples enjoyed the record, calling it "an eight-song mixtape that barrels forward at a faster pace than a chaotic 200cc race in Mario Kart 8 ", he also stated that the record was a good way to get into the Emo genre, featuring many of the core characteristics of the genre. [5] The Alternative also gave a positive review of the tape, stating how it felt like the band was realizing their sound and coming into their own, stating that the album is about a conscious effort to construct your own reality. Summarize there thoughts as "using a barrage of riffs and brutal drumming to exorcise all of the evil oozing out of D.C." [6] Writing for CaliberTV, Matthew Abraham also enjoyed the album, describing the whole album as having a more warm and summer-esque than other releases, overall calling it a standout in the band's discography as a whole. [4]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Brightest Days" | 2:26 |
| 2. | "Thank You, New Jersey" | 2:39 |
| 3. | "Picture Frame" | 2:36 |
| 4. | "Kobayashi Maru (My Very Own)" | 2:29 |
| 5. | "Second Best Friend" | 3:47 |
| 6. | "Looking Out" | 1:21 |
| 7. | "My PG County Summer" | 2:28 |
| 8. | "Few and Far Between" | 4:22 |
| Total length: | 22:09 | |
Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early and mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
The Get Up Kids are an American rock band from Kansas City. Formed in 1995, the band was a major act in the mid-1990s Midwest emo scene, otherwise known as the "second wave" of emo music. Their second album Something to Write Home About remains their most widely acclaimed album, and is considered to be one of the quintessential albums of the second-wave emo movement. They are considered forefathers of the emo genre, and have been widely credited as being an influence, both by contemporaries Saves the Day and later bands such as Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday and the Wonder Years.
Screamo is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics". San Diego-based bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow pioneered the genre in the early 1990s, and it was developed in the late 1990s mainly by bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Pg. 99, Orchid, Saetia, and I Hate Myself. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk and characterized by the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights. The term "screamo" has frequently been mistaken as referring to any music with screaming.
The Rocket Summer is the solo project of Bryce Avary, a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer based in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas. He writes and produces every song on his records, and plays every instrument on them.
My Chemical Romance is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way. They are considered one of the most influential rock groups of the 2000s and a major act in the pop-punk and emo genres, despite the band rejecting the latter label.
The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah, formed in 2000. The group consists of vocalist Bert McCracken, bassist Jeph Howard, drummer Dan Whitesides, and guitarist Joey Bradford. Former members include Quinn Allman, Branden Steineckert, and Justin Shekoski.
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, while York, a high school friend of the original lineup, joined in 2007. The band is signed to Fueled by Ramen, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, both owned by Warner Music Group. Williams was separately signed to Atlantic as she was scouted when she was a teenager, and they were the only label to let her stay in the band instead of going solo, but Atlantic said the rest of the band had to sign to Fueled by Ramen. She is also the only member to appear on all six of Paramore's studio albums.
Nothing Feels Good is the second studio album by American rock band the Promise Ring, released on October 14, 1997. The album has gained a cult following, and is frequently regarded as one of the most influential records of the emo genre. The title of the album was used as the name of the book Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo by Andy Greenwald. Original bass player Scott Beschta is credited with writing and playing all the bass parts for the album, although he had been fired by the time the album was released.
Emo pop is a fusion genre combining emo with pop-punk, pop music, or both. Emo pop features a musical style with more concise composition and hook-filled choruses. Emo pop has its origins in the 1990s with bands like Jimmy Eat World, the Get Up Kids, Weezer and the Promise Ring. The genre entered the mainstream in the early 2000s with Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough album Bleed American, which included its song "The Middle". Other emo pop bands that achieved mainstream success throughout the decade included Fall Out Boy, the All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore. The popularity of emo pop declined in the 2010s, with some prominent artists in the genre either disbanding or abandoning the emo pop style.
Sex is the second extended play (EP) by English band the 1975. It was released on 19 November 2012 by Dirty Hit. A modified version was released in the US on 1 January 2013 by Dirty Hit and Polydor Records. The band produced the EP alongside Michael Coles, Robert Coles and Mike Crossey. They drew musical inspiration from Sigur Rós, Brian Eno and filmmaker John Hughes while thematically focusing on the passage of time. Prior to the record's debut, a music video for "Sex" was released.
Savages is the fourth studio album by electronic band Breathe Carolina released on April 15, 2014 through Fearless Records in the United States. Upon the album's release, it debuted at No. 22 on the US Billboard 200, No. 4 on the Alternative Albums chart, and topped the Dance/Electronic Albums chart, selling 14,000 copies in its first week. The album spawned six single; "Savages", "Bang It Out" featuring pop duo Karmin, "Sellouts" featuring Danny Worsnop of the metalcore band Asking Alexandria, "Chasing Hearts" featuring Tyler Carter of metalcore group Issues, "Collide" and "I Don't Know What I'm Doing". The album features a more electronic and dance influence rather than the electronic rock and post-hardcore influences seen on the group's previous albums. This is the first album released without former member Kyle Even.
"Sex" is a song by English band the 1975 from their second extended play (EP) of the same name (2012) and eponymous debut studio album (2013). The song was written by band members George Daniel, Matty Healy, Adam Hann and Ross MacDonald. The band co-produced the EP version of the song with Michael and Robert Coles, while Mike Crossey provided additional production. The album version, produced by Crossey and the band, was released as the lead single on 23 August 2013 by Dirty Hit, Polydor Records and Vagrant Records. Written at the age of 19, Healy said the song represents a love letter to prudish teenage girls.
The emo revival,also known as post-emo or fourth wave emo, was an underground emo movement which began in the late 2000s and had declined by the mid–to late 2010s. The movement began towards the end of the 2000s third wave of emo, with bands like Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader and Snowing who distanced themselves from the era's pop sensibilities and instead revived the sound of 1990s second wave emo. This coincided with the rise of bands, like Touché Amoré, La Dispute and Defeater, who too embraced the influence of 1990s emo, as well as screamo and post-hardcore.
Knuckle Puck is an American rock band, formed in 2010 in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The group released several EPs, one of which, While I Stay Secluded (2014), peaked at number 5 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. The band released a split EP with the UK band Neck Deep. The group signed to Rise in 2014 and released its debut album, Copacetic, through the label in 2015.
Citizen is an American rock band from Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio that formed in 2009. The band currently consists of Mat Kerekes (vocals), brothers Nick and Eric Hamm (bass), Mason Mercer, and Ben Russin (drums). They are currently signed to Run for Cover Records, and have released four studio albums to date: Youth (2013), Everybody Is Going to Heaven (2015), As You Please (2017) and Life in Your Glass World (2021). A fifth, Calling the Dogs, was released in October 2023. Considered a part of emo's fourth wave, Pitchfork have described Citizen as "a band their fans can grow up with rather than out of."
"The Best of Me" is a song by American rock band the Starting Line from their debut studio album Say It Like You Mean It (2002). The song was released as the album's lead single on June 16, 2003 through Drive-Thru Records. It was written by vocalist/bassist Kenny Vasoli, guitarist Matt Watts, drummer Tom Gryskiewicz, and guitarist Mike Golla.
Emo rap is a fusion genre of hip hop and emo music. Originating in the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as beats and rapping, with the lyrical themes, instrumentals, and vocals commonly found in emo music. Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Juice Wrld are some of the most notable musicians in the genre.
Origami Angel is an American rock band from Washington D.C., consisting of singer and guitarist Ryland Heagy and drummer Pat Doherty. The duo formed the band in 2016 after the demise of a common prior band, and released a series of EPs leading up to their debut studio album, Somewhere City in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic limited the ability to tour in support of the album, so they instead focused on recording material written during the prior sessions to release their second studio album, Gami Gang in 2021, and wrote and recorded further material for a series of smaller releases, including a mixtape, The Brightest Days, released on June 16, 2023.
Aaron Jennings Puckett, better known by his stage name Lil Aaron, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Goshen, Indiana. Merging elements of pop punk and emo with hip hop and pop, he has released five solo EPs, as well as two EPs as a member of the alternative hip hop collective Boyfriendz. He has also written songs for artists such as Blackbear, Liam Payne, Hailee Steinfeld, Dev and Kiiara. He took part in the writing of Lizzo's 2019 album Cuz I Love You, which won a Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album.
Gami Gang is the second studio album by emo band Origami Angel, It was released as a double LP by Counter Intuitive Records on April 30, 2021. The album was recorded and completed during the COVID-19 pandemic.