Still House Plants – If I Don’t Make It, I Love U (Album Review)

If I Don’t Make It, I Love U is the third and newest project from our friends across the pond, Still House Plants. Equipped with some interesting and really enjoyable moments, If I Don’t Make It, I Love You has 100% reached the top of my list for 2024 favorites, and there’s a good chance it will for you too.

Still House Plants are a trio from Glasgow, England who have been making music for roughly six years now. Their previous projects all carry a sort of raw and dedicated-to-the-craft noise. They simply carry an attitude and presence that lets you know that they’re in short, about their art. With that being said, If I Don’t Make It, I Love U was something exciting for me. Not because of how good I thought it might be, but because I knew it was going to be something that’s at least sincere.

The title If I Don’t Make It, I Love U doesn’t necessarily suggest something bad will happen, but it doesn’t reassure that something good will happen. I found that that’s the central theme within this LP; a feeling of anxiety, tension, resentment, rejection, and quietus. But it never feels overdone or excessive. It’s just prevalent enough to be able to feel and understand those said themes, but that’s about as far as it goes. It doesn’t really get depressing nor too grim.

This LP takes a few different aspects and techniques and runs with them. Distorted, loopy, and abrasive guitar chords or notes, straightforward, clever, dry drums, and moody vocals are what you’ll hear on every track on this LP. The vocals easily land themselves as my favorite element on this record. Sometimes they even feel reminiscent to Seattle’s Sunny Day Real Estate, formed in 1992. They range from really virtuosic and impressive, to artsy, repetitive, and angsty. Either way, they’re complimented by the instrumentals tastefully throughout the entire LP. Whether with abrasive guitar chords or clumsy and “falling apart” sounding guitar notes, the vocals consistently remain outstanding. At times, the guitar parts can feel repetitive, however, the outstanding vocals and consistent drums can counterbalance that repetition, for me at least.

It did take me a few listens to grasp the record and sort of be able to point out my favorite tracks. It did feel slightly unorganized and scrambled. At times, the disorienting tones of the actual music itself coupled with the unorganized aspect of the entire LP make sense. When these moments do make sense, it feels like the band is perpetuating this idea of dread and uncertainty that can be seen all throughout the record, and including part of the title, “If I Don’t Make It”. But when they don’t make sense, it just feels half-baked.

Rating/Good: If I Don’t Make It, I Love U is unorthodox and outlandish. It’s loaded with sincere tones of dread, uncertainty, angst, and what could be potential. I like that this record is something simply different. It’s not what you’ll hear on the radio, nor most functions. It’s not an where in ten years you’ll be able to remember or point out an exact song, but rather an album you’d remember for simply being something far out there. I’d like to see Still House Plants continue to develop their sound and further their apparent capabilities, as I believe it could hit some high marks.

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