thoughts on the ark discography ? ('kill it' & 'make me' ep, albums)
Yippee!! So I think their epās are very a cross between The Killers, Paramore, and pre-signed youtube Conan Gray if that makes sense. Kind of an odd variety of bands but I think sonically they sound a lot like The Killers and Paramore and I think Conan Gray has a the Ark locked in his basement writing his songs.
Itās very early 90ās and early 2000ās rock and indie band vibes. I think they have to fight pretty hard to be considered anything except āpop boybandā or like singer-songwriter almost? Thatās not the right term because thereās three of them and I think that tends to apply to like a singular person but I think that conveys what Iām getting at. And I do think that applies to them, but I think especially when theyāre younger they want to be considered more of a Rock Band that they really make a thing of it musically and aesthetically. But I mean at their core itās always been Rowanās writing and a combined songwriting effort.
Oh, I also think that one consistent thing in their discography is so much synth (affectionate) my good personal friend Jimmy is going absolutely nuts on the synth. Sometimes it gives songs a very 80ās vibe but I donāt think theyāre ever going for 80ās intentionally, yk?
I think A Place Like This is kind of the sibling to the EPās and theyāre sonically very similar but by this time theyāre getting a better idea of what they like to do and what theyāre good at so the sound and visuals are more fine tuned.
I think their albums end up straying a little more towards pop but still stay on the side of pop rock. Iād like to think Magic 18 is kind of their After Laughter or Found Heaven album and itās a kind of experimental for them and very upbeat sounding songs that are so depressing. This is where I think they lean a little more into hyper-pop as Jimmy described them.
For Joan of Arc I think it goes back to their angsty pop rock/pop punk roots and I like the idea that itās not just the song Joan of Arc thatās about Joan Ricci but a good deal of the album is focused on grief but it gets interpreted as like longing for a romantic relationship, or being stuck on an ex or something, or letās be honest jowan, because The Ark fans are too jowan pilled to realize what itās actually about. I donāt know if this is true but Iād like to think Joan of Arc is the album Jimmy gets more involved in writing the lyrics. Like still mostly Rowan but Jimmyās more involved than their previous works.
And actually I donāt feel like most of their music is about romance, most of their songs that feature relationships are about like platonic or familial relationships, or I donāt think they have like Christian songs but I do think Jimmyās faith probably plays into his songwriting at times so like some songs are probably about his relationship with God, so on and so forth.
Itās also important to remember Joan of Arc came out in 2016 so just like. keep that in mind. Think of the times. Think āThe Ballad of Me and My Brainā and āLove It If We Made Itā - 1975, think āI Spend Too Much Time In My Roomā - The Band Camino, think mFallā - Palisades, think Harry Styles self titled, think both of Sleep On Itās albums. Think āi you think too much of meā - EDEN.
And assuming the timeline I have in my head is correct Joan of Arc would be the album that has songs Rowan wrote about his crush and then early stages of his relationship with Bliss. So like SOME romantic songs but I still donāt think itās the majority.
I also think the way Jimmy sings the songs really informs how the fandom interprets them (that being said, I think they overlook a lot of obvious things from lyrics and performances on purpose to make it about jowan) and I like to imagine Jimmy performs like a mix between Noah Kahan, Gerard Way, and Conan Gray if that gives you an idea. He puts on a very emotional performance and is just all over that stage. Like obviously those musicians are great singers but for me at least what stands out is how much emotion they put into their live performances and I think Jimmy would do that as well. He also grew up on MCR so he definitely thought it would be so cool (and he was right) to have some Gerard Way type theatrics to The Arkās shows.
