After lying mostly dormant for close to two decades, in 2021—in the middle of the global pandemic, one of the most disorienting times in our collective lives—Too Much Joy sprung a surprise album on the world. Mistakes Were Made proved to be just as brilliantly goofy as we remembered.
Turns out they were just getting started. On All These Fucking Feelings, out via Propeller Sound Records, the greatest (only?) band to come out of Scarsdale, New York add another dozen, plus one, fast pop rock songs crammed with hilarious smart-ass lyrics. And true to the title, feelings—good, mostly bad, and in-between—are spilled out all over this record. The mood is obvious from the first two songs, “We Yell At 8” and “What Pricks We Were.”
The sentiments throughout can be pretty stark at times, like on “The Call Of the Void,” where Tim Quirk sings “The French have a phrase for that pull you feel/To step in front of a train or crash your automobile/You don’t want to die but that feeling is real.” Coming from an earnest emo band that lyric would ring alarm bells, but with Quirk’s sardonic delivery, you can’t help but grin and nod along. The album closes on the surprisingly sweet “Slightly Beautiful,” (“It’s best to state one’s case forthrightly/Even when it seems a bit unsightly/The things we could do they shine so brightly/Slightly beautiful”).
Like last year’s record, this one was also made possible thanks to fans as the band crowd funded $30,000 to record it (they were aiming for $10,000). “They made this all possible,” says drummer Tommy Vinton. “Without them all five of us would still be staring at our walls in our houses doing nothing… or something we shouldn’t be doing.”
Thanks to those who ponied up, and the band of course, we all have another ridiculously fun album to sing to at the top of our lungs while we avoid our own feelings.