Tuesday 10/27: The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick—"We Love You So Much"
Today, we share our thoughts on a recent song by the Philadelphia emo band The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on a recent song by the Philadelphia emo band The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick—"We Love You So Much"
Eric Bennett:
The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, an emo band with a classically long name, reminds me of a lot of bands who I wouldn't necessarily throw into that same category. The most obvious, at least in my mind, is Modest Mouse. Their new single “We Love You So Much” has wandering piano keys, a maudlin fiddle, and a bridge of earnest lyrics being sung in rounds for dramatic effect. It’s heartfelt and moving, building into a beautiful crescendo. The beginning, where that violin sneaks in, reminds me of the moments on Mean Everything to Nothing, when Manchester Orchestra exhales, and falls to a quiet lull. It’s like if “I Can Feel a Hot One” were crossed with “Blame it On the Tetons.” I’m very much a fan. It brings me back to 2011, when mainstay bands were shiny and new to me—when I could give Death Cab’s unpopular Codes and Keys a fair shake because I had no context for it.
Eli Enis:
I don’t want to sound like an nostalgist, but I’m happy that an unabashedly 2013-sounding emo band is putting something out in 2020. The Goalie’s Anxiety. . .sounds like all of the things that Eric mentioned, but in my mind they most resemble early The World Is A Beautiful Place & I am no Longer Afraid To Die. A six-member band with strings and keys who make gentle emo that slow-grows into momentous post-rock climaxes? Whenever, if ever? Now, I guess! Although this song bears a particular resemblance to TWIABP, others veer closer to the type of bristly indie-folk of the Orindal Records catalog (Friendship, Advance Base) or the small cluster of bands who bridge those two world (String Machine, Spencer Radcliffe, very early Pinegrove). The whole record is out now, but the comfortingly warm “We Love You So Much” is a great introduction.