Wild Free

Arriving three years after their big 2017 comeback, Acceptances third full-length Wild, Free pushes the bands impassioned, hook-friendly sound into the tear-soaked territory of a classic breakup album. Like fellow scene vets Jimmy Eat World, they retain their early-aughts emo-rock heart while embracing their power-pop tendencies and love of the 80s, resulting in a sharp set of melodic anthems steeped in heartache. Tightly focused on the disintegration of a relationship, Wild, Free is fraught with emotion, touching upon the hurt, desperate bargaining, and, ultimately, bittersweet resignation that comes with a difficult split. Whether comparing love to a battlefield (Cold Air) or longing for the halcyon early days (Wasted Nights), frontman Jason Vena backs his powerful delivery with some of the most evocative lyrics in the bands catalog, unfurling late-night scenes and dark moments of loneliness, when overthinking and overanalyzing can cripple even the strongest spirit. Opener Midnight sets the stage for heartbreak: atop shimmering synths, Venas wounded vocals tremble to life, before the band kicks into full throttle with Garrett Luncefords drums and Ryan Zwiefelhofers bass barreling forward through a thick wall of guitar courtesy of Kaylan Cloyd and Christian McAlhaney. Its a classic Acceptance moment, but with years of refinement since 2005s Phantoms, Midnight reaches the epic arena levels of U2 and the Killers. Echoes of the latter group appear throughout, especially in the rollicking delivery of the urgent Release and Let Go; the harmonies of the impassioned duet with Nashville-based singer Jessie Villa, Wildfires; and the expanded scope of the soaring closer, At the Edge of the Earth. Although theres enough on Wild, Free to crush even the hardest of hearts, the album reaches its peak of grief on the sparse Bend the Light, a devastating moment that swells with sparkling atmospherics and restrained piano as Vena tenderly pleads, Im trying to keep us together/Will you help me? Much like Coldplays similarly wounded Ghost Stories, Wild, Free is Acceptances most personal album to date, an unflinching journey through anguish and memory that is as vulnerable as it is catchy. ~ Neil Z. Yeung