Album Review: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Always Foreign

Release Date: September 29th.

Having probably one of the world’s longest band names, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die are a seven-piece indie act hailing from Connecticut, USA. On September 29th, the band, often abbreviated to TWIABP, releases their third full-length on Epitaph Records, called ‘Always Foreign’.

A band with such a beautiful message to their name must therefore produce beautiful music too, right? Well, indeed! Opening track I’ll Make Everything seconds this positive message in the chorus: ‘I’ll make everything look happy, I’ll make everything look right.’ Indie-rock with some old-school emo influences seems to be the main tone of the album, on tracks such as ‘The Future’ and ‘Gram’.

One of the album’s first singles is ‘Marine Tiger’, taken from the title of the book that singer David F. Bello’s father wrote about his family coming to New York from Puerto Rico in the 1940s. The seven-minutes long song addresses issues of xenophobia, something not only present in everyday society in America (and worldwide), but also in Bello’s personal life. The lyrics deal with how generations of the Bello family have suffered racism, prejudice and discrimination. The song advocates kindness as an opposing voice to xenophobia in a time where the world needs it the most.

Overall, the album is less experimental than TWIABP’s previous two albums, ‘Whenever, If Ever’ (2013) and ‘Harmlessness’ (2015). Yet, this might be their finest work to date. The album is not only a musical, but also a lyrical masterpiece that both focuses on the collective and the personal. A must-listen for everybody into the vibes of early emo and and contemporary alt-indie.

‘Always Foreign’ by The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die will be out on 29 September 2017 on Epitaph Records. The album can be preordered on their website.

Related Images: