La Dispute
Rooms of the House
(Better Living/Staple Records)
4.5/5
There’s a time for every great band to rise to a higher musical echelon, shedding the trappings of genre tags, self-awareness, and pretentiousness, and make an album that screams from the treetops like Rooms of the House does.
Michigan five-piece emotional rock band La Dispute only took three albums to nudge themselves a place beside essential bands such as mewithoutYou and Sunny Day Real Estate. Yes, this band is that good.
Known for nearly stealing the show on last year’s tour with headliners Hot Water Music and co-openers The Menzingers, La Dispute have heroically harnessed their live energy onto a recording.
With help from producer Will Yip (Title Fight, Circa Survive), the album sounds as urgent and desperate as locking eyes with vocalist Jordan Dreyer when he pulls one of his sensational freakouts on stage.
Featuring 11 songs of chilling narrative, Rooms of the House is an emotional meat-grinder where families are made, broken, made, and broken again, with songs that sweep melodically before lashing out in every direction.
-Jason Schreurs