La Dispute “Panorama” Album Review

The poetic post-hardcore quintet from Grand Rapids, Michigan have finally released their fourth album, Panorama, the follow-up to 2014’s Rooms of the House as well as their first release since signing to Epitaph Records. While retaining the literary attributes and poetic lyricism that shaped their distinctive style, La Dispute finely crafted their strongest album yet.

Like its predecessors, it is best understood when interpreted as a story, listening closely to the lyrics, and allowing the dynamic changes and emotional buildups to paint a picture in your head. Panorama does an exceptional job at evoking vivid imagery, using vocalist Jordan Dreyer’s spoken word and heartfelt yells as the narration, and the subdued, melancholic instrumentals to create backdrops for each scene. Every song presents its own mental snapshot that is beautifully arranged, yet still open-ended enough that audiences can perceive each one differently, connecting the sonic illustrations to their own personal experiences.

The album opens with the glistening instrumental “Rose Quartz”, which slowly builds suspense and anticipation, and then transitions right into “Fulton Street I”. This song speaks of the drive Dreyer and his girlfriend would take between Grand Rapids and her hometown of Lowell, and the dead bodies that had been found in places along the way, such as a man who drowned in a pond, a decomposing Jane Doe, and several people in car crashes. The album as a whole is meant to be a “panorama” shot of that drive, as many of the stories told on the record take place on the route they took.

The gradual buildup of energy and intensity is a recurring theme on the album, in songs such as both of the “Fulton Street” parts as well as “There You Are (Hiding Place)” and the closing track “You Ascendant”. These all beautifully capture the contrast and connection between debilitated and frantic emotional states, with Dreyer’s voice escalating hysteria and the guitars shifting from delicate strums to grating distortion. Other tracks like “Rhodonite and Grief” and “In Northern Michigan” maintain a static drive throughout, implementing horns and bleak effects to keep them interesting.

Through many years of writing songs with no vocal melodies, Dreyer has become increasingly clever with finding ways to make memorable hooks out of spoken word. He uses rhythmic articulation and dynamic contrast to his advantage, delivering hushed murmurs to raging shouts that create intriguing harmonies with the guitar lines. This is especially discernable in the tracks “Anxiety Panorama”, “View From Our Bedroom Window” and “Footsteps at the Pond”.

There are points when the vocals become a bit drowned out in the mix, which is questionable for a band that relies so heavily on lyrics. However, once you’re familiar with the lyrics, each song becomes that much more powerful. The buried vocals begin to add to the mental illustrations developed, as if to depict sentiments of isolation and defeat.

The lyrics themselves read like poems about coming to terms with tragic realities. “You Ascendant” is about the realization that everyone will eventually die, and will have to mourn their loved ones as they each go one at a time, until their own time comes. It ponders the possibilities of how and when it could happen, delivering hard-hitting lines such as, “When the end comes will we see bright lights burst through the evergreens / Feel the blown sand at our ankles / Or hear the rustling needles in the breeze? / Who could know?”  As the end of the song approaches, it builds a bleak yet foreboding force, and then the album suddenly ends, stimulating the apprehensive feeling of not knowing what to expect.  

While La Dispute have never strayed from their post-hardcore and spoken word roots, they continue to find new ways to keep every new release intriguing and not too predictable. This album takes you on an emotional ride that you can hear, feel, and see in your head as the images it elicits unfold inside your mind. When given the proper attentiveness, it is sure to stir you and leave you wanting to hear what stories they will tell next.

Favorite tracks: Anxiety Panorama, Footsteps at the Pond