Whirr – Sway

A Disappointing Album

Whirr’s newest album, Sway, is boring. It’s an eight-song album that you will easily forget about if you’re doing something else while listening to it. The album has some punk undertones, but packs no punch. Rather, for the most part, the album is soft and slow, and like the second track’s title is just a lot of “Mumble(ing).” The album is just really flat, and the names of the tracks are good reflection of this.

Sway simply seems to lack creativity, and any real sense of passion. I will say “Heavy” could find it’s way onto a movie soundtrack, under some intense scene, but that is because it’s the type of song we’ve all heard before: overly dramatic and emo, minus the real heart and soul.

The vocals on this album really fall by the wayside as well. They tend toward the echoey, hollow, and airy, and as a result are virtually incomprehensible. This is especially true for the title track.

There just generally seems to be this feeling as though they didn’t care as much as they could have with this album, and that leaves me wondering why listeners should care. That’s not a feeling listeners want when approaching an album.

The two tracks that seem to be the exception are “Lines” and “Feel,” the last two on the album. These songs, especially “Lines,” pack a bit more of a punch, and give the listener a little more. It’s a nice juxtaposition to the rest of the album, and does give the album a stronger ending.

Overall, this album just feels like it was done by, for lack of a better term, “professional emo” teens. The instrumentals aren’t bad, but the overall composition is just greatly lacking.