Antarctigo Vespucci
Love in the Time of E-Mail
Polyvinyl Record Co. (2018)
Rating: 57 glitter-filled tallboys (the glitter is environmentally-friendly, of course)
Okay, so, I’d just like to start this review off by letting y’all know that I actually typed up and finished my notes for Love in the Time of E-Mail less than three days after I received the vinyl in the mail. That means that the notes for this review have been sitting in the Notes app on my phone for three months… Thank you for your patience.
Since I didn’t actually listen to this album until a few days after it came out, I’d already been warned multiple times that it was sad. I thought I was prepared.
I was not.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. For those of you who don’t know, Antarctigo Vespucci is the indie rock/power-pop lovechild of Jeff Rosenstock, formerly of the Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb the Music Industry!, and Chris Farren, formerly of Fake Problems and inarguably the Most Perfect Man in the World (follow Chris on social media and you’ll see what I mean). Is it possible to have a supergroup made up of just two members? I’m going to go ahead and say that Antarctigo Vespucci is proof that it can be done.
Anyone that is familiar with the respective solo work of Jeff and Chris can easily pick out who was responsible for what on this record, which is something that I absolutely love about AV’s music in general. Jeff and Chris, while both being punk rockers, vary in style. Jeff’s more known for thrashy, noisy punk, while Chris’s work tends to be sweeter and poppier. Antarctigo Vespucci strikes the perfect balance between the two.
I love all of their releases, but Love in the Time of E-Mail seems to have broken some kind of barrier with punk rock fans in general. I’ve seen quite a few people say things along the lines of, “Love in the Time of E-Mail is what made me an Antarctigo Vespucci fan” and “The newest record is what finally made me get it.” Better late than never, right?
So what is it about this record that bridges the former gap between fans? Is it the “cleaner” production? The clever marketing (complete with wholesome AF merch)? The fact that it was released on a label besides Jeff’s own Quote Unquote Records? Honestly, I’m the wrong person to ask, since I’ve loved everything AV has put out since their first release Soulmate Stuff. But maybe it’s none of the aforementioned things, and the reason why Love in the Time of E-Mail was received so lovingly, even by people who previously weren’t AV fans… is because it tells a cohesive story.
But what is that story? When I first listened to Love in the Time of E-Mail, bookended by the tracks “Voicemail” and “E-Mail,” I immediately thought about ex’s, both recent and long gone. “Why did I crumble at the thought of you last night? / We could never get it right” and “I wanted to see you / To see if I still wanted to see you,” from the song “Breathless on DVD,” could easily be laments from someone who understands that their relationship would have never worked out, but is nevertheless still full of longing for what could have been.
However, a few days after the album was released, Chris tweeted that “two things [it] is not about [are:] romantic love [and] social media… it can be about whatever you want it to be about, but it’s not about these things for me.”
Upon closer inspection of Love in the Time of E-Mail, Chris’s tweet rings true. The aforementioned lines from “Breathless on DVD” are suddenly about the childhood best friend who grew up to have a personality completely incompatible with yours, or the parent that never truly understood you, even after you exited the angsty teenager phase.
“Not Yours” takes a slightly different approach, providing an empowering soundtrack to the death of a relationship. It can address an ex of any kind: an ex-partner, an ex-friend, an ex-boss (my vote is for this song being an anti-capitalist anthem). “Just because you need me / Doesn’t mean I’m yours” is a mantra that many people would benefit from. Plus, this song is one of the places in the album where the combination of Jeff’s and Chris’s vocals truly shines the brightest.
Not all of the songs describe the emotional aftermath of failed relationships. “White Noise,” which was first released as a single, could easily be a platonic love letter to a new friend. “When you really know me / And I mean really know me / Will you wanna know me anymore?” encapsulates that phase in every budding friendship where you wonder where the line between acquaintance and confidant lies, and if you’ve crossed it.
We often forget that there are so many types of love. Love in the Time of E-Mail serves as a reminder that all of them are important.
-Julien Boulton
One Comment