Album Review: La Dispute - Panorama

Hardcore rockers La Dispute have had a lengthy career, their sound progressively changing throughout their discography. Panorama healthily bridges the past five years since their last release Rooms Of The House with an all-too-familiar blend of jazz, rock and noise that their growing fanbase continues to adore. 

Fulton Street I and Fulton Street II open with an eeriness that gets violently coarser, providing an angsty build-up. Rhodonite & Grief opens with familiar slow jazzy guitars and light drumming patterns blended with Jordan Dreyer’s poetic prowess, consistently swaying with different emotions. The same can be said for the rest of the album, which moves between the white noise of guitar feedback to roughly bleating vocals and back to slow jazz.

La Dispute’s fourth album packs the right punches but seems to lack anything significantly new or enticing. Even though it feels like some of the record's potential is unfulfilled, the album provides a lavish experience traditional fans will appreciate and admire. And while the album’s lyricism focuses on physical events rather than their traditional fictional subject matter, which is refreshing, it unfortunately doesn’t have the right feel for a La Dispute album.