Growing through change isn’t something that is always pretty. Sometimes becoming feels like having your body doused in gasoline while you fumble to light a cigarette. But on the other side, you aren’t devoid of what you were before. Things can only change, grow, and evolve, but their makeup will always carry the ash of what they were before. South Jersey/Philly band Sweet Pill’s sophomore album There’s Still a Glow works through metamorphosis without leaving out all of the pain and strife that comes with it. The album serves as a showcase of the band’s evolution through its strong musical and lyrical showing.
Sweet Pill was introduced to me when they opened for The Wonder Years during a recent tour. I leaned over the railing of the Starland Ballroom bar to watch their performance with such excitement. Zayna Youssef has such stage energy in her performing style that she draws the attention of a venue that may have never heard their music. But she talked about where she was from, and something clicked. This band was from where I grew up and where I was from. It made me want to root for their successes in any way I could. I want to put those biases up front because I think they make me uniquely equipped to write about the album critically.
There is a specific sound to South Jersey and Philly emo music that stands out for its spirit of authenticity, a forward-leaning emotional weight, fighting back, and taking control. Many local bands straddle the line between heavier tracks and sorrowful melodies that blend to convey the beauty of being human and of growing through that experience. Sweet Pill’s sound on this album is a perfect example of that.
The album starts with the track “Sunblind,” which kicks the doors open with earwormy lyrics and guitar that bind you to the sounds of what is to come. The line “I’m Alive! And I’m taking it for granted” is something that stuck with me through my entire listening of the album. It’s a through line that felt like the key to the rest of the album. We follow someone as they realize they have been slipping into bad choices because they were easy, and what it feels like to face the fire.
Our ears follow singer Zayna Youssef, guitarists Jayce Williams and Sean McCall, bassist Ryan Cullen, and drummer Chris Kearney as they tell a story through this album of making the conscious painful choice to heal and grow. The band wrote the album as a group rather than in parts, which gives it a clear vision for its themes and sound.
Track 4 “Glow” starts what feels like a trilogy of songs that I want to focus on. “Glow”, “Slow Burn”, and “Smoke Screen” track the lighting of the flame, the burn, and the smoke that remains as you sort through what you were to build who you are going to be.
In the back of my mind
I’m doing something right
I’m doing something for myself
But it’s at the detriment of
Something I held close to my chest
“Glow” opens with extremely powerful imagery, the ability to know you’re doing something good for yourself, but letting something you thought you were die. The guitar and drums sync, rhythmically ruminate on this journey of self-exploration that feels like a rumination on what the song is saying. It’s a display of the band’s cohesiveness in telling this story of where they were and where they are going. It’s an acceptance of something you were attached to needing to be burned away to change.
I roll you up, a cigarette
I fill my lungs up with your death
Exhale concern
Exhale the worst
Exhale all that smoke from a slow burn
This snippet of lyrics from “Slow Burn” is where we find ourselves lighting the fire. The metaphorical slow burn of the self as you morph and change from a place of trying to be better in your own way. The riff running through this track is consistent and more aggressive than before. Youseff and McCall’s interplaying vocals are similar to the battle of self-reflection of who you were and who you want to be. McCall’s vocals add another layer of complexity to the sound, a clear sign of how much this band has evolved into something even more than before.
Back and forth between
Right and wrong won’t save me
Begging for clarity
In the thick of a smoke screen
“Smoke Screen” leans further into the blowing-smoke metaphor introduced in the previous track. They are metaphorically breathing out all of those things they were grappling with. Seeing the damage you have caused, in whatever state you are recovering from, can bring up so many feelings, as the song demonstrates. You want to parse through all of it to clarify where to go ahead. It’s a masterfully constructed song and quickly became one of my favorite tracks on the album.
Every song after grapples with different parts of the change and rebirth from the fire before the grand finale. “Letting Go” opens with the residues of fire and smoke: what once was wasn’t gone, but changed forever by the fires. It’s a triumphant ending to an album that reflects on who they were before this change and how that moves forward with who they truly can be.
Sweet Pill’s sophomore album is a beautiful experience to sit and listen to from top to bottom. The band’s strong musical and vocal talents are matched by a deeply touching emotional journey of change. It’s a 10 out of 10 sophomore album that only bodes well for the band’s future.