You or Someone You Know — Worriers (review)
A self-professed “expert overthinker”, Lauren Denitzio of Worriers has plenty of material lately. Their fourth album is part breakup record, part meditation on ~these uncertain times~, as ‘End of the World’ makes clear in its catalogue of fire and earthquakes. Your carefully laid plans are going to end up getting dismantled, Denitzio suggests, whether through natural disasters or ones that have been sworn in under oath.
There’s a lot being dismantled in this record. ‘PWR CPLE’ is a bitter diatribe to a partner as the relationship crumbles around them. “I get it, you still hate it here,” Denitzio spits, with enough venom to make you squirm guiltily, like an eavesdropper sitting in the corner. Spite dissolves into remorse with ‘Terrible Boyfriend’, Denitzio admitting, “if we’re being honest, I was not cut out to take you”.
The self-appraisal continues into ‘Chicago Style Pizza is Terrible’, which is less a provocation (I don’t know if it’s true, and Frank Pinello isn’t here to ask) and more about recognising the low-key pleasures of being an introvert, passing up parties to lie quietly in the sun. In true loner fashion, it sounds a little like ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’, if you can banish bigot Morrissey from your mind for a minute and just remember the old one.
‘Curious’ was inspired by a Scientology building near Denitzio’s home, which sparked the radical idea that there could be another way to live other than just . . . worrying. Wouldn’t it be easier to outsource your problems to a cult and swallow whatever solutions they cook up?
Denitzio recently moved to LA, and admits that a certain sunny Californian optimism crept into the album even through its most despairing moments. Those bright melodies are a perfect counterpoint to the melancholy lyrics, like in any great pop-punk record. You don’t need to go through a breakup right now to be climbing the walls and fearing for humanity.
2020. Also appeared on Getintothis.