Review: Saves the Day's Stay What You Are

Stay What You Are is the third album by New Jersey’s Saves The Day, a band that has seen more lineup changes than a Soviet platoon in the 1940’s. Released in 2001 to minimal acclaim both critical and popular, the album has since gone on to become one of the staple examples of pop-punk/emo music with its concise execution, minimal riffage, lyrical content and vocal performances.

Important to note right away is that this album is tiny. Just over half an hour long, there isn’t a whole lot of music to talk about, and stylistically the track-to-track differences are pretty scant: Same levels of distortion on the guitars, same twangy, gritty bass, and Chris Conley’s singing is an unchanging presence.

The vocals could get pretty grating after a little while. Chris sings in the proper register for a poppy punky singer, and he unfortunately has the same issues that many of these vocalists have. Occasionally he’s straining too hard to reach his notes, and the overlaid vocals are often less harmony-driven and more ‘a bunch of dudes all singing’, creating a crowd-like sound that can clash with the nicely arranged guitars.

The opening (and easily my favorite) track At Your Funeral is a deceptively complex pop-punk anthem. The now-clichéd topics of modern rock are brought straight to the front. Guitars twang in the upper register, and the bass line here stands far above any other on the record, exploring the chords and really coming into its own light very satisfyingly.

It’s hard to believe that this album came out in 2001; it’s got a sound that’s inspired many, and the style it created has remained in use to this day, which is quite something to accomplish in an arena so nebulous and ever-changing as modern popular music. Stay What You Are isn’t going to be the greatest thing you’ve ever heard in your life. It’s short, unvaried, and frequently whiny. It’s also very energetic, tightly written and recorded. The quality, both musically, lyrically, and sound is unchanging front to back: no real moments of weakness or outstanding strength, aside from At Your Funeral. If you’ve got a spare half hour, there are many worse ways to spend it than by listening to this album.