Filled with zealous sparks of brilliance and shards of pop/emo/punk/electronic/dance awesomeness, Innerpartysystem’s self-titled debut is a speaker-rattling thunderbolt.
Based out of Pennsylvania, Innerpartysystem began out of the remnants of an emo band. Singer Patrick Nissley and drummer Jared Piccone were members of Thirteen Over Eight before they started The Takeover (which was later renamed as Innerpartysystem based on a hodgepodge of Orwellian social classes) and started gathering acclaim for their vigorous and colourful live shows.
The musical aesthetic of Innerpartysystem is largely based on two levels of existence. The first is a delightfully delicate spell of electronica and the second is a sort of foot-stomping quasi-anthemic emo drive complete with dejection and eye shadow.
“Die Tonight Live Forever” begins with thick bass creases that call to mind a touch of drone. A swell of hard dance takes over and Nissley’s vocals soar over robotic backing voices. “We’re all here ‘cause we’ve lost control,” the mechanized singers murmur. The cut’s passionate underpinning helps provide a boost, giving the song a sense of mass and depth.
Other tunes find Innerpartysystem with a leg on each side of the line between industrial rock and dance pop.
“Last Night in Brooklyn” is a sparkling number, working tasty programming patterns with ease and cranking out a crisp mid-tempo jam. And “Obsession” furthers Innerpartysystem’s straddling of the line, bumping out textured resonance that swirls with a sense of detachment and yet pulsates with intimate cadence.
“Don’t Stop” is certainly Innerpartysystem’s keystone of agitation. A grinding, insistent cut, Nissley uses a noisy backing track as the milieu for his derisive tirade regarding disproportionate celebrity adulation. “I feed the rich and fuck the poor!” he acerbically gloats over a harshly-paced electro-riff.
One of the more convincing aspects of this debut is the pace and song position. Nissley and the boys work impetuous patterns, sliding softer and prettier songs after the album’s more discordant numbers. While the preponderance of the material is mid-to-low tempo, Innerpartysystem never runs low on force or groove.
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