They've done it again.
On May 24, 2024, alternative duo Twenty One Pilots dropped their seventh studio album “Clancy”—a masterfully produced and beautifully written journey into the end of the narrative that began with “Blurryface,” the album that put the band on the map with hit songs such as “Stressed Out” and “Ride.” “Clancy” takes a step out of the falsely secure landscape of the previous album “Scaled and Icy” and back into the often cold and harsh conditions of their fifth album “Trench,” although Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun make it clear that we are making it out of the trenches with this one.
Quick side-note: If you are unfamiliar with the background, here is a short recap video that was posted on the band’s Instagram page explaining their journey thus far. Simply put, frontman Tyler Joseph crafted an extended metaphor of the narrative describing his struggles with faith and mental health, and “Clancy” is the name of the protagonist of the saga—presumably Tyler Joseph himself. While understanding the overarching story can enhance the experience, knowing all the lore isn’t necessary to enjoy the music. But if you have the time, you might as well, right?
The album feels warm and nostalgic at times, but also cold and unforgiving at others. The sound varies throughout each song, giving a distinct quality to “Clancy” that feels unparalleled to past albums as the duo treads between tried-and-true sounds and experimental ones. The distorted synths and punchy beat from the opening track “Overcompensate” literally throw us back into the world of “Trench” with the lines “Welcome back to Trench” and “Sahlo Folina.”
The track is reminiscent of “Trench” opener, “Jumpsuit,” but with a slightly scaled back hook—passionate, just as determined, yet less fiery. This track seems to be the most directly interacting with the lore aside from “Paladin Strait”—which we’ll get to later: (“If you can’t see, I am Clancy,” “I fly by the dangerous bend symbol”) and we get a neat lyrical Josh Dun shoutout, just as “The Judge” did back in “Blurryface”.
Both “Next Semester” and “Navigating” feature a punk-style sound, with Josh Dun’s drumming taking center stage to ramp up the energy and Tyler Joseph’s lyrics offering a sharp contrast to the head-banging beat. “Next Semester” is heart-pounding in more ways than one as it describes the experience of having a panic attack in college. The song feels specifically engineered for a group of college students to scream along to, with the mantra, “Can’t change what you’ve done / Start fresh next semester” or the “Oh ah ohs” that hauntingly pepper the final segment. “Next Semester” also makes for a great soundtrack to any graduating senior facing anticipation for what’s to come.
While “Navigating” differs thematically, the fast-paced nature and bassy tone of the track are underscored by dark themes of coping with death as Joseph mourns the loss of his grandmother. “Give me some advice / I am wasting all this time,” Joseph cries out throughout the song, while apologizing for his delays and being unaware of time passing.
Growing old is a recurring theme throughout the album, with a tale of reconnecting with family in “Midwest Indigo,” and the ode to times changing in “Oldies Station.” In “Midwest Indigo,” Joseph details the process of reaching out during a cold winter, with fitting lines like “Running late so I didn’t have the time / To scrape the frosted windshield like we’re barely scraping by / Concentrate on the little gap in the ice / That seems to be about as wide / As our chances.”
The winter imagery continues throughout the song, with the main hook in the chorus being, “You can be so cold, Midwest Indigo.” My personal favorite parts of the song are A: That heavenly retro-synth opening, and B: the lines “Did you pull up yet? Not yet!” and “What’s your ETA? Two minutes!”
“Oldies Station” is a certified tear-jerker, especially for long-time fans who have grown up and watched the band grow up as well, with Josh Dun getting married, and Tyler Joseph now having three kids of his own with his wife Jenna Joseph (she will come up again later).
The sound is vulnerable and stripped back, offering a melody of comfort and reminiscence on simpler times. It’s clear Tyler Joseph had envisioned a crowd of thousands of fans singing the line “Push on through” as a battle cry when writing this song, which is most evident by the bridge highlighting signs of growth: “You don’t quite mind how long red lights are taking,” “Your favorite song was on the oldies station,” “You have it down, that old fight for survival” and the line that grabs me by the heart and yanks it clean out: “You’re in the crowd at her first dance recital.”
If you listen closely, Joseph can be heard saying, “Ro! Ro!” after this lyric, in reference to his firstborn daughter, Rosie. My eyes suddenly got very sweaty after hearing this.
Following that theme of family, it wouldn’t be a Twenty One Pilots album without Tyler Joseph dedicating a song to his beloved wife, which he does in “The Craving (Jenna’s version).” With his signature ukulele, Tyler Joseph plays an acoustic version of the previously released single version of “The Craving” that offered more instrumentals and a slightly faster tempo.
Jenna’s version, as some may recognize as a Taylor Swift reference due to Jenna Joseph being a fan, is a love song in all its essence and being, told from the perspective of the couple’s nearly ten years of marriage. The track begins with an audio recording of Jenna saying she is getting old but still doesn’t know a lot about Tyler. Tyler then reciprocates a mutual curiosity throughout the song, constantly wondering if his actions are enough to let her know how much he cares and vowing to give as much as he can to her.
He puts his heart on display through his soft strumming and warm, tender vocals— and if you watch the music video, you may tear up more than I did from “Oldies Station.”
Taking a bit of a tonal turn, “Lavish” describes the “impostor syndrome” struggle of making it in the music industry, with a rap flexing the dualities of good life set to a 2000s-style hip-hop beat and strings for added flair. Joseph critiques the high-end lifestyle expected of musicians who have made it in the industry with the lines, “Got that penny loafer squeak, across linoleum / Big flex, complex, Napoleon / I say whatever and whatever that I want / Sip a Capri-sun like it’s Dom Pérignon.” The music video features signs of businesses across their hometown of Columbus in a clever way of showcasing both the lyrics and hidden gems across the town.
“At the Risk of Feeling Dumb” and “Vignette” take a more turbulent approach to their sound. “Vignette” features a heavy instrumental flashing of the piano and an electro-synth interlude. The zombie imagery and vulture sounds highlight the song’s themes of death. “At The Risk of Feeling Dumb” desperately implores the listener to check in with their friends, because it’s not worth the risk of feeling dumb to lose them. While emotionally heavy in tone, the bridge of the songs could have had a higher climactic point—a small note but not a dealbreaker.
“Backslide” and “Routines in the Night” are both more chill, cruiser-type beats, with “Backslide” calling back to “Stressed Out” in the music video and recalling previous songs like “Saturday” in its lyrics. While not too overtly memorable in its chorus, “Backslide” sonically shoots back in time to the “Trench” and “Blurryface” eras. “Routines in the Night” has a catchy tune and toes the line between the more alternative, emo style and the pop sound established in “Scaled and Icy.” “Snapback” directly recalls “Backslide” thematically with a direct lyrical reference and the ideas of slipping back, with a more ethereal steel-drum sound throughout.
Finally, “Paladin Strait” ends the album with an uneasy but conclusive track that references the geographical sea in the world of Trench and maps out Clancy’s attempt at escaping from Dema (if you didn’t watch the lore video, just think—cult-like village). The acoustic ukulele and reverberating vocals give a Western-style goodbye to the story, and the bridge is a moving mantra for the fight to come:
“Here’s my chance, time to take it
Can’t be sure that I’ll make it
Even though I’m past the point of no return
I’m all in, I’m surrounded
Put my money where my mouth is
Even though I’m past the point of no return.”
Like “Overcompensate,” this track very directly connects with the narrative of Clancy and even brings back the “banditos” (rebel fighters) that were introduced in “Trench.” Towards the end, the song is interrupted by a minute of silence, and afterwards, Tyler sings about being surrounded by banditos while climbing the top of a tower to find his enemy, Nico. Then we hear an ominous snippet of Nico opening a door and directly addressing Clancy—a sign that this may not be the ending we think it is. For a better understanding of the song, I highly recommend watching the recently released music video. The ending makes it clear that although one chapter is ending, another has just begun.
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