Chasing Catharsis: Coping with the Cards Dealt

Album Review:  Over Me by Rain City Drive

CONTIBUTING AUTHOR Lyana

Rain City Drive serves heartbreak on a four-course silver platter as a sampler for their upcoming album, Things Are Different Now. “Over Me” makes its debut in the company of earlier releases “Neverbloom,” "Medicate Me,” featuring Dayseeker, and “Frozen.”

Offering a captivating blend of pop and alt-rock, “Over Me” is a wild card compared to the three other tracks, which basked in the post-hardcore sound. However, this wild card is greatly welcomed as the musical and lyrical quality stays consistent and addictive—courtesy of lead singer Matt McAndrew, guitarists Weston Richmond and Felipe Sanchez, bassist Colin Vieira, and drummer Zack Baker. 

Each track exemplifies the theme of the impending album: how life is swiftly augmented depending on how your cards are dealt. “Neverbloom” showcases Rain City Drive’s mellow side, emphasizing the agony of subsisting whilst coming to terms with the loss of a loved one. Putting the band’s salient tunes under the spotlight, “Medicate Me” underscores the addiction to temporary highs, involving lust and spontaneity, and “Frozen” confronts being in love with and hung up on the idea of someone, rather than the jarring reality of the relationship. 

“Over Me” expresses the torment of seeing a former lover move on despite the chapter being closed for some time. A sighting that solidifies the end, old wounds resurface, leading to the adoption of unhealthy coping mechanisms as McAndrew sings, “Pretty faces overseas keep me company.” The songs render a form of catharsis as a response to the situations at hand, a voice full of relatability—an outlet for release.

Things Are Different Now is an album to anticipate, set to release later this year on September 27, 2024.