Dads
I’ll Be the Tornado
6131
6/10
While Dads’ 2012 full-length debut, American Radass (This Is Important), hid troubled sincerity behind goofy song titles, this follow-up wears the heartache on its sleeve. Opener “Grand Edge, MI” starts off as a gentle, mournful lament before bursting into a bristling, tense existential anthem that’s all feedback guitars, crashing drums, and open wounds. From there, I’ll Be the Tornado runs through nine more songs with heart and hooks in abundance. Initially, the Michigan-via–New Jersey duo—who became a three-piece after recording this—were lumped in with the emo revival crowd, but the jaunty nostalgia of “Chewing Ghosts,” the tortured torment of “But,” and the wistful longing of “Take Back Today” (not to mention the epic, soaring soundscape of closer “Only You”), offers a thoroughly expansive and transcendental take on the genre, and refuses to be pigeonholed. It’s a beautiful, broken, bruised, and powerfully moving record.
