Album Reviews
Joyce Manor may have softened their sound if you compare their recent work to the raucous pop-punk of their debut, but the songs still hit equally hard. On their new album, they wrap things up barely 20 minutes later but win you over right away with the melodic earworm that is ‘I Know Where Mark Chen Lives’.
Over the course of nine songs, they out-Weezer Weezer on ‘Falling Into It’ and pay tribute to the Smiths on ‘All My Friends Are Depressed’ with the poppiest of hooks and bleak lyrics. Elsewhere, they simply combine those two influences on ‘Well, Whatever It Was’, get wistful on the title track and deliver a downright danceable tune with ‘After All You Put Me Through,’ while ‘Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before’ has 'PARTY!' written all over it, in no small part thanks to the gang vocal-enhanced chorus.
It’s still early on in the year, but I think it’s fair to say that with I Used To Go To This Bar, Joyce Manor has already delivered one of the best albums of 2026. To quote Sum 41: all killer, no filler.
I Used To Go To This Bar tracklist:
- I Know Where Mark Chen Lives
- Falling Into It
- All My Friends Are So Depressed
- Well, Whatever It Was
- I Used To Go To This Bar
- After All You Put Me Through
- The Opossum
- Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before?
- Grey Guitar
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
