ALBUM REVIEW: Arm’s Length – ‘There’s A Whole World Out There’

A phrase like “blew up on TikTok” can strike fear into certain generations, and indeed heavily douse an artist with an iffy reputation no matter how far-flung TikTok musical trends extend. It’s probably not fair. After all, the platform has given a whole new generation the joy of hearing Deftones for the very first time—imagine that! In attempting to frame this modern music marketing, one has to imagine bands in the TikTok fame bag, such as Ontario’s Arm’s Length, in the same way artists broke out on earlier internet showrooms. Myspace, Tumblr, hell, even Bebo.

One thing that these quick clip-style platforms seem to usually get right is anything dabbling into emo or pop punk. Perhaps it’s the black eyeliner lyricism or from-the-heart chorus deliveries reminiscent of alternative scenes that likewise, back in the day, had an appeal only slightly left of centre, which is delightfully returning. Arm’s Length feels perfectly suited to this moment, skirting that fine line between mainstream stylings and hardcore-adjacent edge. Like an inbetween of Jimmy Eat World’s Clarity and Bleed American. That’s meant in a great way of course; songwriter Allen Steinberg’s got the chops of emo’s greatest pens, mining the pangs between teenage growing pains to the (somehow) more confusing 20s identity crisis.

Steinberg and his bandmates’ influences—from their Canadian counterparts…well, Counterparts, to Phoebe Bridgers—add sideways bends to his skeleton song structures, which on There’s A Whole World Out There show their transition to a group more than adept to convey lived experience, all on arena-sized stages with the likes of Silverstein and New Found Glory. The World’s crispy clean melodic leads and skittering drum rolls call to mind Counterparts without the Will Putney distortion, even though Steinberg’s sparingly used screamo-style vocals shine in its ending. Speaking of concert halls, cathartic outros are clearly something this band have in their locker—on the opener here, a breakdown following a country-fried solo, on Palinopsia a expulsion after a lung-filling string section. As for the ending track itself, we’ll get to that.

When Arm’s Length step away from your ‘expected’ easycore methods, they shine brightest. The Wound manages to make gang vocals sound more like a Greek theatre chorus. Jeff Whyte’s drumming on Fatal Flaw struts between tempos, similarly on the The Weight where guitars dip into math-rock territory. That noodling translates well also to purposeful alt-country riffs, that even grant a certain consistency to the heavily featured banjo throughout the tracklisting. Initially confusing from single You Ominously End, the porch-step instrument manages to both subvert and adhere to that pop-punk trope of hometown humdrum, backing up Steinberg’s nostalgic glimpse of his drive-through childhood homeland: “300 people in this town, not one worth driving to / you’re the reason for the crosses by the road”, or  “the smell of gas, the fresh cut grass”.

TAWWOT’s first half coherently smashes through peppy fast-paced hardcore, singalongs, and these left-turns before taking a breather. Early Onset is an If It Means A Lot To You-inspired acoustic spotlight which, while the barebones style offers weight to the introspective themes of the record, feels slightly too churning in its change of page, especially next to the more straightforward Genetic Lottery or plucked quasi-anthem Attic. But if this calm before the storm was intended, the final onslaught does have the desired effect. Morning Person is a true testament to the group’s adept style-spanning composition: a full seven minutes of half-tempo verses, snare slams, blast beats, tremolo picks that sound like ringing bells, slides and that banjo, throwing everything out while remaining marvellously coherent in the ways of the (now classic) I Just Want to Sell Out My Funeral.

Arm’s Length projection onto bigger stages is certainly warranted. They’re clearly a resurgence of warming ‘00s styles, but with enough outside influence from pop and indie’s best to see them as a step-up from the ‘90s alt-rock and shoegaze imitators defining the alternative scene so far this decade. TAWWOT has all the marks of a sophomore record: a growth in outlook, creative songwriting structures and playing, with enough potential left to see them flourish further very soon armed with tracks held as dear to a new audience of emo lovers as those from the genre’s godfathers, who thankfully influenced Arm’s Length to enter the ring.

For fans of: The Wonder Years, Koyo, Knuckle Puck

‘There’s A Whole World Out There’ by Arm’s Length is released on 16th May on Pure Noise Records.

Words by Elliot Burr