Finally, after three knockout teases, Philadelphia’s Hop Along has released their third studio album via Saddle Creek, Bark Your Head Off, Dog.
Hop Along left fans eager after the release of the light-hearted lead single “How Simple.”
The track echoes variations of commercial doo-wop percussion and the sing-along spirit expected of the Philly quartet. “Not Abel” and “Prior Things,” followed, only building the anticipation for the release further. These three shamelessly addictive singles were only a hint at the wide scope Bark Your Head Off, Dog achieves.
Though Frances Quinlan’s delightful shrieks and squeaks are a major identifier for the group’s sound, the wholeness of this record screams collaboration. Quinlan (vocals/guitar), her brother Mark Quinlan (drums), Joe Reinhart (guitar), and Tyler Long (bass) recorded the album at Headroom Studios in their home of Philadelphia.
Strings make appearances throughout the record, sly and somehow gorgeously paired with their punk essence. At one point you can hear the insertion of a vocoder. Spacious textures are created, especially in “The Fox in Motion.”
The claps and beats in this song built so seamlessly it’s as if they’re one. The record marks immense growth for the band without their success jeopardizing their one-of-a kind sound.
As a songwriter, Quinlan continues to create narratives laden with imagery. The lyrics are still character-specific; like the scientist or the general of “One that Suits Me.”
“Somewhere A Judge,” is another story, marked with the warm, poetic visual of “Afternoon vanilla sun crawls away across the lawn /Through the phone I pull you and drag your voice around.”
Fable-style lyricism and references to biblical characters show a clear influence from religion throughout the album.
Hop Along’s previous Get Disowned (2015) and Painted Shut (2012) also have specific, and elegantly placed lyrics. The “Nobody deserves you the way that I do,” on “Tibetan Pop Stars” seems like a simple line as its introduced, but leaves you ferociously. Quinlan’s vulnerable nature from “Tibetan Pop Stars” heard in the line “My love is average” is carried on in moments like “How simple my heart can be frightens me.”
Somehow her delivery is just as hard-hitting on the songs where she’s screaming and the songs which she gently glides. “How You Got Your Limp,” is light and refined with an acoustic guitar, a harp, and violins, but despite its seeming gentleness, Quinlan’s voice still punches. The intelligent songwriting and graceful textures tie unexpectedly together with whistling, a touch one might expect in a country song. It’s just genre-defying in its combination of Suburban creativity and artistic capacity of Quinlan.
Bark Your Head Off, Dog is the delicious recipe for the indie appetite, and gosh have we been hungry for it.
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