My Rushmore aren’t god, but they’ve truly saved the scene with the release of their first full length album, “Tell Everyone We’re Dead“. A banger from beginning to end that covers the full spectrum of the emo genre. Self proclaimed as “Glasgow’s cutest boyband”, My Rushmore are a massive presence in Glasgow’s DIY scene. Having only started making music together last year, they have made quite an impact in the short time that they’ve existed.
Similarly to a lot of other emo/midwest emo albums “Tell Everyone We’re Dead” is composed of seven songs that come to only twenty four minutes long in total. I’ve got no complaints about the length, I was just left craving more by the time I finished listening the first time round.
My Rushmore’s style and presence are like nothing Glasgow’s scene has ever seen before. It’s clear from these seven songs, the trio have poured their hearts and souls into every little detail of its production.
Image credit: Dan Morrison
This Song Isn’t About Skippy Dinglechalk was the first song off of the album to be released. Starting with a sample from Rushmore, the lads blast in with a riff bursting with personality, putting pinch harmonics to good use. As an opener, the song kicks ass, it’s got the heart ache inducing lyrics the band are known for and a killer sing-along chorus. If you’re on the fence about My Rushmore, listen to this one song and I promise you, you’ll fall in love with them just as hard as I have.
Sentimental Films About Horses has my favourite sample from the whole album, that being the line, “James, you made me happy”, ripped straight out of Silent Hill 2. The song also has great lyrics and one liners that’ll be stuck in your head for days, one that stands out to me being, “Mona Lisa with a heartbeat”, tying the theme of confusion and understanding the song alludes to together perfectly.
When asked what the band’s favourite song off the record was, they pointed towards Midnight Screwdrivers. They also showed some love to the producer of the song stating: “Our producer Nathaniel Lue killed it.” Kill it he most certainly did, Midnight Screwdrivers has the best mixing out of all the songs on the album, and is the most layered sonically. The last minute of the song in particular is unbelievable and far heavier than the lads have ever went before.
It’s Not an Outfit, It’s a Lifestyle follows the same energy as the previous tracks, composed of similar lyrics that paint another story of lost love and attempted connections, a stand out line being “If I was cupid i would shoot myself whilst looking in your eyes, cause then i’d have a chance”, there’s a lightheartedness to it, but it is sung sincerely. The scartchy lead guitar riff also stands out as one of the best parts of the song. The band confessed that the final sample of the song is taken from quiet a funny place, “we ripped a clip of this 2000s emo my space video blog guy called Eddie the Emo, he was basically telling people to kill themselves if they dress emo over 50 and we thought was really funny”.
Goblin King takes the energy down a bit, a similar mix is used with vocal screams mixed in against the softer sung parts of the song, group vocals are also used at the end of the chorus. The song is also a collaboration with fellow scene bad, ienvyyourheartforbeingclosertoyouthanieverwillbe. In the final chorus both vocalists sing together, creating a deeply layered closer to the song, making it an instant fan favourite off of an album full of them.
Tell Yr Dad I Said Hi follows in the footsteps of the previous song, its a very reflective song that’s bound to bring a tear to your eye. The breakdown after the first verse is unlike anything else off of the album, it’s a harsh change that elevates the song to new heights. When discussing their use of sampling, the band spoke highly of the one they used for this song since it was audio from a video that was taken at their first ever live show.
Aug 15. closes the album on an appropriatly low note. Down in a spoken word style, it stands out against the rest of the album. The song sounds like a poem more than anything, the conventions built across the album are taken down, and upon these new foundations a cycle repeats, hopeless love on the part of the speaker. As the song goes on the soft tone of the vocals breaks into a scream, reflecting the utter sadness the lyrics are composed of. It’s an unbelievable song that begs to listened to over and over again, just to pick through lyrics and really feel the sadness. The song ends with the line “Fuckin’ life man”, It’s a line that really does describe the feeling the album leaves you with, a mix of sadness and a wee bit of hopefullness.
My Rushmore may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but if you’re interested in Glasgow’s DIY scene and are craving a new bit of Midwest-Emo, give them a try. Tell Everybody We’re Dead is easily one of the best albums to come out of the scene this year, and is up there for best Scottish album of the year.
Feature image credit: Dan Morrison