Many artists evolve from their old styles as they mature in their music, oftentimes causing uproar within the fanbases. Popularity can stagnate or even decline when they change styles, even if it is for the better. The Front Bottoms are no strangers to this, but they push through and allow themselves to change as creators, and all of us avid listeners are grateful for it.

This New Jersey-born rock band is best known for their earlier works with heavy acoustic guitar, messy drums, and raw vocals that cemented Midwest emo into the musical zeitgeist. Since then, though, they’ve leaned more towards the indie scene, switching the acoustic guitar for an electric one and cleaning up the sound while keeping the same intricacies in their lyrics that always enticed people to listen closely.

Their newest album, You Are Who You Hang Out With, dropped last week, and it looks back into their previous styles with their first three singles released in anticipation. “Emotional” starts off the album with a bang, an eclectic indie-pop single that takes from their style from their previous album, In Sickness & In Flames. The next two, “Outlook” and “Punching Bag,” look back into their discography, the sound reminiscent of Talon of the Hawk and Back on Top, two albums that forged their style into the hearts of fans. These two songs talk about getting stuck in the past and using music as an escape.

The rest of the songs showcase the new sound first experimented with in Going Grey and developed with each consecutive album. The Front Bottoms distort the vocals to stay true to the shaky novelty of their earliest songs and keep the same vibes they had before: happy sound, sad lyrics.

You Are Who You Hang Out With is a great addition to The Front Bottoms’ extensive discography, paying respect to their beloved past works while looking forward to newer, better things. It perfectly encapsulates the struggle of growing out an important phase of your life despite understanding it’s for the better because there are some things better left in the past and revisited on occasion rather than becoming stuck in the past with what’s familiar and comfortable. With this powerhouse of an album, The Front Bottoms is only going up from here, as they always have been.

You can listen to You Are Who You Hang Out With on Spotify, YouTube, and anywhere else you stream music.