Pissed Jeans established themselves as a great throwback to the late '80s and early '90s with their two previous releases. 'King of Jeans' continues this same trend while at the same time expanding the palette of a band clearly indebted to others. Part of this comes from the continual progression of guitarist Bradley Fry. The sound of Pissed Jeans is anchored by a very lively rhythm section and vocalist Matt Korvette's performance. Fry on the other hand seems to prefer to embellish the group's sound rather than drive it which really has come to fruition on 'King of Jeans'. Guitar solos echoing No Trend, the building of distortion throughout 'Spent' Pissed Jeans have seemingly embraced the aspects of traditional rock and roll into their immensely untraditional sound.
Pissed Jeans' 'King of Jeans'
'Hope For Men' was a very lyrical album for how volatile the sound was. 'King of Jeans' is still just as lyrical, but gone are songs concerning issues as mundane as ice cream and Whole Foods. The topics have dissolved into even starker reflections of everyday life. 'Dream Smotherer' concerns the lack of sleep of its narrator, 'Spent' a seemingly typical day in Korvette's life. The presence of vocals has also reached its pinnacle with a more diverse take. Korvette has imbued his yells with a somewhat more melodic tone as is evident throughout the record especially 'Goodbye (Hair)'. More over bassist Randy Huth and drummer Sean McGuinness have propelled Pissed Jeans' previously sprawling sound into a more apt attack. Few tracks on the album dip over the 3-minute mark and tracks like 'She is Science Fiction' and 'Half Idiot' are a flurry of drums aided by slow droning bass lines. Pissed Jeans have polished up their sound as much as is seemingly possible and because of that they've crafted their finest record yet.
