Free Throw – Piecing It Together | Album Review

Piecing It Together – the fourth full length from emo-punk outfit Free Throw – perfectly encapsulates what it’s all about with it’s namesake.

Over the course of their respective discography thus far, Free Throw have lucidly turned their personal troubles and issues into infectiously relatable offerings that blur the faint lines separating emo, pop punk and post-hardcore. Whilst their sense of genre dynamism has remained consistent since their humble origins back in 2012, each of their records has seen Free Throw journeying through the process of growing up and navigating the mental troubles that come synonymous with the coming of age. 2017’s Bear Your Mind was articulated as a call from the void and it’s 2019 successor What’s Past Is Prologue saw the band staring back into the abyss in which they escaped from trying to make sense of how they got lost within it in the first place. Approximately two years on from that escape, the band have healed and are now navigating their first steps since such trauma. Piecing It Together is exactly what the band are doing with this release.

Over the span of the 12 tracks that compose this record, Free Throw take stock of what has came before them and nestle into a new perspective. Prior to this release, the band where locked into a consistent rotation of album cycles and perpetual, ceaseless touring; an exhausting routine many artists deem as a sign of success despite being mentally and physically eroding. But with the pandemic halting the music industry to extent, it seems like the writing process of this record came at the time where the band where able to recess, review their progress, and breathe. With that in mind and when considering the overall theme of the record, Piecing It Together see’s the band in their most comfortable and content form to date.

Previous single and opener ‘Cloud Sick’, along with proceeding tracks ‘Worry Sick’, ‘The Grass Is Greener’ and ‘Down & Out’, demonstrate this – albeit subtly. The band’s signature sound is all but unchanged and still dynamic than ever but resonates less chaotic and scrappy urgency. As proven within the breezy and slightly more expansive natures of the aforementioned ‘Down & Out’, ‘The Grass Is Greener’ it appears the time they’ve reserved to take stock has allowed Free Throw to explore the space within their sound. Compared to it’s respective predecessors, Piecing It Together see’s the band tightening their sound and focusing more on the melodies, harmonies and instrumentation that compose their sound. Lead single ‘Ocular Pat Down’ along with the likes of ‘Dormancy’, ‘Trust Fall’ and ‘Force Of Will’ – a track that features twinkly math-rock inspired fretwork akin to Tiny Moving Parts – demonstrates this wonderfully. Such tracks breathe with life, bounce and animated contentment and feature some of the group’s most focused and refined songwriting to date.

Of course, the bite and aggression featured within Free Throw’s previous bodies of work remain and on show. Cory Castro’s raised vocals and throaty bellows remain prominent through the record, but instead of being expressed with torment they are expressed with little bile or pain. It feels as if instead of creating barrages of angst-ridden noise in frantic attempts to article their pain and woe, this record see’s them doing so just out of love for the music they create. Instead of agonizing over moments of anxiety in the past, this record see’s them living in the moment, at peace and accepting of their position in the world. A large portion of bands who find peace after several records focusing on pain and personal tribulations seem to lose their edge in the process – so to speak – but Free Throw have successfully managed to retain their identity and sound with this release.

In all, Piecing It Together showcases a tremendous, almost surprising amount of personal growth from this band. This is musical proof that clarity that can come following extended periods of grief and the concluding nature of the closer ‘Dawn Of A New Day’ rings out the record with a sense of optimism and contentment previously unseen within the work of this band. Much like the angst ridden natures of this record’s respective predecessors, Piecing It Together is expressed with intimacy and frank, unapologetic honesty. But unlike such records, the band have taken the time to express such candour with long composed articulation. Free Throw have been made anew with this record, and with the band harbouring a new sense of purpose, one can only joyously anticipate where the band go from here.