A sugary rush of shallow pop-punk nostalgia

Photo by Jonathan Weiner.

After steadily releasing multiple EPs over the years and receiving endorsements from the likes of Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low and Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, Meet Me @ The Altar (MM@TA) has finally shared their debut album Past // Present // Future with the public. The group consists of Edith Victoria on vocals, Téa Campbell on guitar and bass, and Ada Juarez on drums. As an all-female, all-POC trio in a scene that has primarily been dominated by abusive, cis, white men who have often preyed upon female fans, I was excited to hear what unique perspective they would bring to the genre. However, MM@TA instead offers a rehash of the sounds and lyrics popularized by their early 2000s influences, like Avril Lavigne, P!nk, and early Paramore, without providing much in the way of unique twists to elevate their songs above said influences.

The opening track and first single off the album, “Say It (To My Face),” starts with a fast breakbeat reminiscent of The Powerpuff Girls theme song while directing their ire towards anonymous internet trolls on the internet. Sarcastic clapbacks at uppity critics have long been a staple of the pop-punk genre, but without sounding too much like Tyler the Creator on cyberbullying, MM@TA’s target feels too irrelevant and vague to be worth this bile. At least the magazine writers targeted by the likes of The Academy Is… and Panic! At the Disco had the power to blunt an upstart band’s progress with a scathing review in a pre-social media internet. Lines mocking the lack of power held by these miscellaneous internet trolls, such as “Still stuck in your mothers basement / Talk trash but you’re like a million miles away” feel like punching down on an imaginary group of people who don’t hold much influence on the band’s rise to stardom, dampening any potential cathartic release from sticking it to the haters.

These bereft lyrics are a recurring theme of the album, as there are not many moments that caused me to ponder in a meaningful way. “T.M.I.” deals with thoughts of low self-esteem and the fear of sharing those thoughts but doesn’t move beyond listing these intrusive ideas. It wants to address anxieties that are pretty ubiquitous in theory but is too selfish to offer a sense of togetherness or a way forward. Katy Perry said everything this song says in a 9 second interview clip from 2014 and did a far better job at relating to viewers than MM@TA did in a 2 minute, 46 second-long song.

The one time I did find myself expending energy thinking about the lyrics was on the song “Kool,” but not for a good reason. MM@TA states that the song is meant to be a gushing tribute to the target of their infatuations, but when I first heard the song, I initially thought it was a sarcastic ode to someone with an inflated ego. “I bet / You love the way you look when you look in the mirror / Don’t you? / Me too” felt much more believable as a mocking insult than a line of mutual adoration, especially within the context of a pop-punk song. It wasn’t until the second verse and hearing lines about “Cooking me dinner / low light / Just you and I,” that I could see that this was meant to be about someone they feel positively about.

The song “Kool” also brings me to my second major issue with the album, which relates to the way Edith Victoria uses her voice. I must state up front that Victoria is a more than capable vocalist, so this is not about her ability to hold a tune. Rather, the vocal accents and runs that are inserted into the songs do not highlight her vocal strengths. For instance, the wavy delivery of the chorus “You’re so coOoOoOoOoOoOoOol,” goes on far too long and quickly becomes grating on the ears. The second time the chorus comes around, it is accompanied with an ascending harmony that, while intended to show off Victoria’s vocal range, only adds a mildly painful, high-pitched flourish on top of the annoying bouncy main vocal part.

The standout song from the album has to be “A Few Tomorrows,” which adds acoustic backing and gives Victoria a chance to showcase the strengths of her voice as she waits to be reunited with her lover. It takes the best elements from early Paramore’s ballads or Avril Lavigne’s slow songs to show some vulnerability hiding behind a tough and patient exterior. However, this shining moment soon gets washed out by a series of bratty songs about kicking an ex-lover to the curb, which don’t carry enough wit to stand out compared to the plethora of breakup songs in the genre.

To paraphrase famed music critic Robert Christgau, good rock and roll music should provide a sense of unease, and that’s where my issue lies with this album. MM@TA is a competent outfit that strives to create an authentic sound that stays true to the genre, but refuses to budge from the artistic decisions made by their influences of fifteen or twenty years ago. The final product we receive is an album that plays it safe in a genre that was defined almost half a century prior by danger and edge. The likes of Avril Lavigne and Paramore, who have been cited by MM@TA as influences on this album, had a clean, poppy sound, but also provided danger in contrast to their pop contemporaries like Britney Spears or Fergie. MM@TA’s pop contemporaries on the other hand, like Olivia Rodrigo, have found more unique ways to play on those same influences and provide far more menace and unease. If MM@TA wants to continue to play it safe, then they’re welcome to ignore this feedback from another “internet troll” like myself, but I sincerely hope their next effort proves to be more adventurous than this debut.