THE DRIVER ERA’s “X” [Review]

I never thought that I would listen to music from a band that was once heavily associated with Disney, but “The Driver Era” (stylized as “THE DRIVER ERΛ”) has proved me wrong with “X”.

Born from the ashes of the now-defunct band “R5”, The Driver Era consists of former band members, and brothers, Rocky & Ross Lynch. You may know Ross Lynch from the Disney show “Austin & Ally” where he played the title character “Austin Moon” or from “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” where he played “Harvey Kinkle”. R5 was a pop/rock band consisting of Ross and Rocky, their siblings Riker and Rydel Lynch as well as Ellington Ratliff. All of these members have contributed to The Driver Era in some way. R5 was initially signed to Hollywood Records, a subdivision of the Disney Music Group, hence why they were so heavily tied to Disney. After wanting to move forward and escape the rut that the band had been in, Rocky & Ross decided to form what we now know as The Driver Era. The Driver Era has a much more mature sound compared to R5 and the dichotomy between the two is incredibly apparent when you listen to any song from either band.

“X” is very eclectic with nearly every song having such a different vibe from every other. While I do think that every album should have a certain flow to it, whether it be each song piggybacking off of one another, a story being told, or some kind of theme going on, it doesn’t work for every collection of songs. For X, we see that the album flows from high to low, and back to high. The strong hard-rock-feeling start in the first few songs slowly wanes down to a very chill vibe with a pretty slow-feeling tempo only to rise up again. While I did say that this album is a bit eclectic that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Every song is very different from one another, making each song memorable. It’s hard to mistake one song for another. While a lot of bands struggle to leave their niche, The Driver Era sets the precedent that while all of their songs can sound very different from each other, every song feels like it belongs to the band.

While the title may sound a bit macabre, “Welcome to the End of Your Life” the song itself is meant to give off the opposite effect. The music video does a decent job of expressing the meaning of this song. Being stuck in a rut of dealing with the same things day in and out is something that we deal with at one point or another, whether it’s school, work, or dealing with depression. Learning to take your own path, make your own decisions, and not letting anyone stop you from what you wanna do is incredibly tough and that feeling of breaking free is matched by the way the guitar is used in this song. The way the band slowly builds up the melody by adding a few instruments at a time until the chorus and then blasting the guitar is amazing. Having the song end with the amount of distortion used is such a good pay off with the amount of buildup we get, especially how it reflects how when someone is at their breaking point and blows up when they’re absolutely fed up with how things are going.

“Nobody Knows” is vastly different from the previous song. While “Welcome to the End of Your Life” made you want to bang your head, “Nobody Knows” makes you want to get up, dance, and sing along. While there isn’t much going on other than the lovely funky guitar, the band actually did say that this song is about how things can change so suddenly. To quote Rocky, “No matter how consistent something can be or feel, six months later, that something that you thought you knew is no longer. ‘Nobody Knows’ reminds me of times like that”.

While we all linger on the feelings of a previous breakup, “Scared of Heights” puts those feelings into words. Half the time you’ll say to yourself “I know I don’t need you”, and the other half of the time you’ll end up saying “Still I can’t get enough of the good stuff, Give me one more time”. “Scared of Heights” shows how one’s feelings can vary at the drop of the hat, and while it may be liberating to be free, that freedom can be a bit scary. This song tones down the melodies from the previous tracks and it’s absolutely alluring. I especially love whatever’s happening right before the outro, it sounds like someone vocalizing or yelling and an almost robotic voice, that we hear throughout the track, coming together and it just works.

“Feel you Now”’s probably has the best sounding bass on the entire album and we even hear some trumpets during the song too. While the song starts a bit somber, it immediately becomes more upbeat. It’s one of the more laidback songs on the album, with the lyrics representing the ever ongoing struggle between one’s mind and heart. Overall, it’s a nice song to groove to.

Things start to slow down in “San Francisco”, a nostalgic feeling song that makes one reminisce about what was. Reliving one of the best moments you’ve had with someone who is no longer apart of your life is something that we all do from time to time. The guitar in this track is almost relaxing and it plays into the theme really well. The outro is almost hypnotic, as if one is coming out of a memory from long ago and settling back into reality. The lyric that hits harder than it should is the line “You know we suffocated our love / You really didn’t do a thing wrong / Now I am superstitious of love / And baby, we overplayed our song”, where the singer expresses how he knew things were coming to an end, to no fault of his ex.

“Low” is immensely distorted with a lovely funky groove. The lyrics mirror those in “Welcome to the End of Your Life” in the sense that we all get into depressive funks from time to time. The synths we hear along with the guitar help lean into this as it’s another laidback track on the album. Sometimes we end up doing things for others where we normally ‘never stoop so low’ for and this song explains that perfectly. Sometimes when you’re doing something that doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong.

Another heavily distorted and laidback track on the album is “giveuwhatuwant”, a song that focuses mainly on synths with some backing from guitar. While a lot of the songs in the middle of the album are a bit slower, they all sound largely different. This song is about a one night stand where the singer and the person they’re sleeping with really want to sleep together because “We both know these feelings, They won’t last forever”. I think my favorite line from this track has to be “You shine like a diamond, Even with the lights low”.

Back with the funky bass is “Natural”. With the haunting distorted vocals as well as that ever-present distorted synth, the song is almost bone-chilling. We hear the singer expressing their interest in a girl who keeps things real and for lack of a better term ‘natural’.

“The Driver Era” loves their bass and synths and so do I. In the penultimate track “Afterglow”, we get another relaxing and laidback song, which is the whole theme of the song. The lyrics spin a tale of spending your time with a lovely girl at a beach in Cabo. The singer questions whether this is the right person for them but they end up ultimately end up drifting away. The lovely guitar rears its head once more and it lends itself perfectly to this track.

The debut single from “The Driver Era”, “Preacher Man” is the final track on “X”, and it goes out with a bang. “Preacher Man” set the stage for the band, as with their previous act, “R5”, would probably never touch on the darker and mature themes that this song addresses. Despite its name “Preacher Man” is not a religious song by any stretch of the imagination. The song addresses the question of “what am I doing with my life?”, or “how can I escape where I am?”. This song was a perfect debut single as it’s use of piano, and almost gospel-like vocals make you wanna get up and dance. It’s a song sure to get stuck in your head if you’re not careful.

Final Thoughts

“X” is an amazing freshman album and leaves the listener wanting more. The funky guitar and bass along with the heavily distorted synths that “The Driver Era” uses feels uniquely theirs. Despite the fact that every song is wildly different, the band shows that they aren’t defined by one genre, whether that genre is funk, pop, or rock.

Album Score: 10/10Favorite track: “Welcome to the End of Your Life”& “San Francisco”

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