Album Review: With Confidence’s Debut Album ‘Better Weather’

For those unfamiliar with the quartet, With Confidence are a Sydney pop punk/alt-rock band that have been gaining plenty of traction in the scene with solid releases and supporting the likes of You Me At Six, Real Friends, and The Maine. On June 17th they released their debut full-length album ‘Better Weather’.

This album is a real grower. When I first heard it, I didn’t really rate it very highly, but after the second listen I found I was humming the songs to myself as I was writing and doing odd jobs. If you’re a fan of pop rock or pop punk definitely give this album a second listen if it doesn’t stick at first.

The album starts out with single Voldemort, an upbeat tune with lyrics that reference the album title, “And I know that you’re holding out for better weather/And I can’t promise you that I’ll be round forever”. The chorus is catchy as heck (it’s in my head as I type this), and pretty typically pop punk-sounding.

“It’s a welcome down tempo number on the album and the piano melody in the chorus is as infectious as it’s beautiful.”

The second song Keeper is also a single and another upbeat pop punk number, with guitars that are a little reminiscent of Fall Out Boy’s ‘Take This To Your Grave’. While the singles are catchy, I personally feel that the album songs (particularly the softer ballads) are the real strengths of ‘Better Weather’, particularly when it comes to lyricism.

The album’s fifth track Gravity is a slower, rawer song about choosing to pursue an artist’s life. The song is led by finger-picked guitar accompanying honest lyrics, “Could’ve been a tradesman, out working 6-3/followed my father’s footsteps to work and spend and sleep/but I couldn’t stray from embracing melody/and only in the dark times I’d crave normality”.

Seventh track Long Night is a piano ballad with only the sound of the keys and vocalist Jayden Seeley’s voice for the majority of the song. It’s a welcome down tempo number on the album and the piano melody in the chorus is as infectious as it’s beautiful. Halfway through a violin is added to the mix, adding another calming layer to the stripped back song.

Dinner Bell picks the speed of the album back up, with distorted guitar and piano melodies both present on the song. I feel like this song is a pretty good representation of the album as a whole, in terms of instrumentation and lyrical themes of relationship difficulties and personal struggles. There’s a really cool half-time section in this song, which is definitely worth listening out for!

Higher has a distorted guitar riff that’s a little bit like ‘Take Off Your Pants And Jacket’ era Blink-182, and crisp, emotive vocals that push the song forward. The final song of the album, Waterfall, is a good closer for the album with harmonising guitar lines and percussion that really lets the drummer shine through.

All in all, in my opinion ‘Better Weather’ is very much a reflective, night time album rather than a sunny day, carefree roadtrip album. The album achieves a pretty good balance between pop punk and mid-2000’s emo, with clean production similar to something you’d expect from a pop rock band such as 5 Seconds Of Summer. If you’re a fan of any of the bands I’ve mentioned above, I would definitely recommend giving this album a listen.

Watch our interview with the all the members of With Confidence HERE and our review of their recent Brisbane show HERE

With Confidence Tour Dates

THU 8 SEP
The Metro Theatre, Sydney
FRI 9 SEP
Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
SAT 10 SEP
Max Watts, Brisbane

Get Tickets HERE