Even though they do not advertise themselves or their music, the band still reached a reasonably large fanbase, having reached very recently the 100 thousand followers milestone on Instagram. It is not very surprising, though, considering we are talking about Dallon Weekes who co-wrote Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die as a member of Panic!, and Ryan Seaman, the longest full-time drummer for Falling In Reverse. That is already advertising, in a way.
I Don't Know How But They Found Me consider themselves "out of time". I understand why they say that, some of the biggest influences mentioned by Weekes are David Bowie and Joe Jackson, who were very successful in the 70's and 80's and their music are considered by many part of the "Golden Age of music". But, you can also see many modern vibes in here. Weekes used a lot the very same vibe he put to Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die and you can also see some influences on Pop Punk and Emo bands of the 2nd half of the 2000's, so they are not that out of time.
Well, because their discography is still very small, I think I can have the liberty of reviewing their three singles separately, instead of talking about the general and taking some examples, like I usually do in reviews of this kind:
- Modern Day Cain - This is I Don't Know How But They Found Me's first single to be released, on 18th August 2017. It is their wildest song, instrumentally. Really, I can actually see this being played in an American school party in 2005, with teenagers dancing wildly all around. It also reminds me a bit of the school talent shows of the 80's that we see in movies. Also, it reminds me a little bit of The Drug In Me Is You, except that it is electronic and waaaaayyyy less cringy (but it could be worse, at least it doesn't remind me of Bad Girls Club)
About the lyrics, they make a lot of religious references, specially about the story of Cain and Abel, the first two children of Adam and Eve. In that story, Cain feels jealous because God gives more attention to Abel than to him and because of that jealousy, Cain murders his brother. According to the story, that was the very first crime ever committed. This song basically talks about a person who is a sinner, and so they compare him to Cain, one of the first sinners, according to the Bible. Dallon Weekes also said in an interview that this song was inspired not only on Cain, but also on the priest character of the TV series "Broadchurch", played by Arthur Darvill.
I like this song! I love the electronic beats, specially because of their wildness. Also, even though lyrics are not their forte, Modern Day Cain has decent lyrics which mix well with their music. I like how they manage use 80's-ish vibes but still manage to make a great Emo Pop/Synth-Pop song. For me, this song is a 14/20. - Choke - Their second single was released on 26th October 2017 and it is their most popular song so far, with almost 4 million views on YouTube (as of 3rd May 2018).
I understand why this is, by far, their most popular song so far. More than 90% of the fans know them because they are former members of Panic! At the Disco and Falling In Reverse. Panic! are known for being one of the symbols of the Emo Pop move of the 2000's (even though I think they are everything but emo), also being one of the most successful Barroque Pop bands among teenagers. Also, recently they started to dig themselves more into Synth-Pop; and Falling in Reverse are known for being one of the most popular Post-Hardcore and Pop Punk bands nowadays. Well, Choke has a little bit of every genre I just mentioned (except Post-Hardcore). You can definitely see the Emo Pop and Synth-Pop genres in there, since those are the main genres of the single, and you can see some Pop Punk and Barroque Pop vibes in there. Barroque Pop is less obvious than Pop Punk, but the trumpet, the drums and the piano are, in my opinion, similar to Panic!'s Barroque Pop, specially Vices & Virtues'.
About the lyrics, I used to think they were about an ex-girlfriend of Dallon Weekes, who he hates now very and I found that cringy because, considering that point of view, these lyrics looked like they were written by a 13/14 year-old boy who's angry because his girlfriend left him. But that didn't make a lot of sense to me, since Dallon is married with Breezy Douglas Weekes since 2006, and so I decided to search the meaning of the lyrics. According to Genius, turns out it is his actually about Dallon's relationship with the city he currently lives in: Los Angeles. As Dallon himself said in an article for Alternative Press: "I wrote Choke to sort through to how disenchanted I had become with living in Los Angeles. I still love LA a lot, but it's never felt like home to me. It can be a difficult culture to navigate if you don't have any desire to fit in".
Choke's lyrics are still the ones I prefer less, though. Even though the meaning of them are confirmed, when I read the lyrics, I cannot connect them with that meaning. It still looks like some lyrics written by an angry teenage boy to me, a boy who wants to burn everything and murder someone. But, once again, lyrics are not their forte. On the other hand, it is quite obvious that the targeted public are teenagers, so it is quite forgivable.
I give this song a 14/20, as well. - Nobody Likes The Opening Band - This is IDKHBTFM's latest single, released on 14th March 2018. This is their only song with no electronic beats at all, being just the tambourine, the piano and the vocals. I find awesome how they can make such a great song with a piano and a tambourine after two singles with crazy electronic beats and stuff like that. Also, I add the fact that, if someone told me back when I listened to this for the first time that Dallon originally wrote this to be a track of Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die, I would have believed in it. This single would fit perfectly on that record and I can totally see Brendon Urie singing this song (even though I wouldn't mind to see Dallon being the frotnman of one Panic! song. I mean, Ryan Ross has done that before, in Behind The Sea). But yeah, I find IDKHBTFM's calm side very enjoyable!
Lyrically, this is their best work, in my opinion. This is basically about the biggest disadvantages of being an opening band. Every musician has been, at some point of their career, an opening act. Even though they have gained recognition from the main act, an opening band gets pretty anxious and nervous, because, like Dallon himself told to Ones To Watch, "the audience isn't yours, and you have to work much harder to win people over". It is a struggle that every band has suffered in the past or will in the future. I think they managed to transmit that situation pretty well both instrumentally and lyrically. Instrumentally because the song really looks like an opening act and shows a feeling of anxiety and lyrically for obvious reasons.
I give this song a 17/20.
What do you think? Do you agree with me? Is there an album or a band you'd like to see me reviewing? Tell me which one right there, in the comment section!
