The Neighbourhood's "I Love You," One Year Later

One year ago today, an album was released by a young band called The Neighbourhood. Despite the spelling of the band name, the group is not British. They are in fact a five piece alt rock group formed in California. Following two successful EP's, they released their debut album, entitled, I Love You.

I first heard of the band while researching lower tier groups on the Lollapalooza lineup. They had a large amount of followers for their position on the lineup, largely due to a strong internet presence they built up from individually released singles. I purchased this album to get ready for a small show they were playing in a downtown Orlando bar, and was very pleased to discover it's a very solid listen.

The group is led by singer and lyricist Jesse Rutherford. At 22 years of age, Rutherford is the oldest member of the group. He puts together a very edgy and moody 11 tracks. In fact, the title of this album is quite ironic. It is frankly a very dark and somewhat disturbing album, complete with hate-lyrics and plenty of drama.

As you can tell from the album art above, the theme throughout the album is black and white. This visual is carried over to the groups music videos, using film-noir imagery. They even requested to be photographed only in black and white during their festival debut at Coachella last year.

This black and white theme coordinates nicely with the music. Rutherford's voice sounds haunting at times as he both sings and raps throughout the album. The song that best displays his ability to blend these two is "Let It Go," as he raps the verses and sings one of the more "poppy" choruses the album features.

My personal favorite is the track, "Female Robbery," which sits towards the end of the album. A nice bass groove and drum beat make this an alt-rock classic. The clear favorite from the crowd though is "Sweater Weather," a cool single that rose to number one on the alt-rock charts last summer. Any band that can make that claim is impressive to me, especially one of this age.

One of the negative points that brings this album down a bit for me are the lyrics. I believe this is where the youth of the band is shown. An example is the hook to "Afraid," as Rutherford sings - "You're too mean / I don't like you....You suck anyway / You make me want to die." They are simply lacking.

But despite the lyrics seeming like they were written by a child, this album will keep you entertained. More soul is shown in "Flawless." The other stand out tracks are "Alleyways" and "W.D.Y.W.F.M?"

In conclusion, I believe this a great opening statement for a young band. They definitely bring a different sound to the alt-rock table, but they need to develop more. Their lyrics should improve, as should their live shows. I was able to see them a number of times in 2013, but was never blown away with their live performance. I'd love to see their sound on the album transfer over to the stage.

ALBUM RATING: 3.5 Stars