Volume supersedes depth.

There’s something undeniably frustrating about When I’m With You by The Subways. The album isn’t bad, per se, but it’s also not great, and all it needed to do to get there was stop pandering to itself to no avail.

Every other song could be the opening track, “Oh Yeah,” repeated with different guitar riffs or vocal anomalies. The album’s two new songs, “I Need To Feel You Closer” and “Passenger’s Side,” get buried underneath the sheer similarity of all of the other tracks.

Instrumentally, the band’s strength shines. The guitars are punchy and exciting, the drums rich and full. Despite When I’m With You being drummer Camille Phillips’ first album with The Subways, the same energy from the band’s younger days remains. Maintaining the same liveliness for 20 years is a commendable feat, and certain parts of When I’m With You still retain their original charm. The problem lies with the dated feel of the songs. Rather than like the band’s first album release, when The Subways consisted of three teenagers creating something fun and fresh, When I’m With You feels like an attempt to grasp at old magic and ends up with stale sentimentality.

The shouty, unpredictable vocals oscillate between fun experimentation and make-you-want-to-turn-the-music-off shrill. Both of the lead vocalists too often devolve into a cacophony of yelling that feels more like a toddler’s temper tantrum than a rock-and-roll catharsis.

Tracks like “We Don’t Need Money to Have a Good Time” and “Alright” clearly aim for iconic nostalgia, but instead come across as overdone and repetitive, with the former sounding too immature for a 20-year-old band to be singing about it and the latter sounding like a discarded Green Day B-side. “Kalifornia” stands out with its more melodic tone, but the relief, as sweet as it is, is short-lived. By the time the album rolls around to track 13, “At 1 AM,” the band’s love of Oasis becomes less influential and more imitative, with overwrought vocals that distract more than they deliver.

Other tracks, like “My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat,” have beauty within them, showcasing the band’s technical prowess with fun interludes and airy guitar riffs. Still, they remain buried underneath otherwise formulaic songwriting. “Girls & Boys” offers a glimpse of what could have been: exciting yet not overwhelming, with a 63-second-long guitar intro and more controlled vocals that are easier on the ears.

In the end, When I’m With You feels less like a celebration of a band 20 years into their career and more like a band clinging to their past and leaving no room for sonic evolution, where nostalgia is mistaken for perfection. Longtime fans will appreciate the reminiscence of their post-Y2K lives, but for many, this will feel like an attempt to cling to what was once successful instead of moving forward and maturing.