Sad Boys Club Offer a Smorgasbord of Emo Sounds on Their Debut Record

After a bunch of singles and EPs, 'Lullabies From The Lightning Tree' is the full-length debut for the London band.

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When a band calls itself Sad Boys Club, it’s apparent they’re looking to skip the indie rock comparisons and jump right into the emo scene.

I was admittedly unfamiliar with the London band when asked to listen to their debut album, Lullabies From The Lightning Tree, for the upcoming May edition of the Album of the Month podcast. Since the record wasn’t yet available when the month’s picks were assigned, I started with the group’s EPs, which have built quite the buzz for the Sad Boys Club across the pond. Nothing quite clicked with me on those short players, which is ultimately why I’m so happy to tell you how much I enjoy the version of the band found on Lullabies From The Lightning Tree.

Led by Jacob Wheldon, with Chris Holmes on guitar and a rhythm section of Pedro Leite on bass (who also produces the record and does a damn fine job of filling out the band’s sound) and drummer Tom MacColl, Sad Boys Club hit the scene with their first single in 2017. So while Lullabies is considered their full-length debut, it’s easy to hear how they’ve already been at it for six years. The record is divided into two halves, with a ripping a-side that delves into the confusion of young adulthood. Any band that is going to call themselves Sad Boys Club is expected to cite The Cure as an influence, and it’s in the atmospheric start to “Peak” that we can clearly hear the casted lines back to Robert Smith before transforming into pummeling second half full of fuzzed-out bass and Holmes’s well-directed riffage.

“Delicious” is an excellent name for a song that’s a feast for the ears as Wheldon navigates a breakup through a flavorsome pop singalong of a chorus. “The Cracking Song” and “To Heal Without a Scar (Is a Waste of a Good Wound)” go a long way in keeping up the massive sounding start to the record before “Lumoflove” shows how diverse this band can be. Stark piano chords and Wheldon’s falsetto slow things down as the Sad Boys Club tie a lovely little brokenhearted bow to wrap up the first half.

After so much sincerity, “Coffee Shop” is jarring in the band’s effort not to take themselves so seriously. If the “Sweater Song” chatter sendup doesn’t give away the joke, Wheldon declares he wants to write a song like Weezer. Reminiscent of bands like Joyce Manor and Rozwell Kid, it sticks out like a sore thumb yet accomplishes its goal of definitely sounding like the Weez and is pretty fun for this reason.

It’s the pairing of the lovely “2bites2it” and vulnerable “Cemetary Song 20/5” that highlight the second half of Lullabies, with the latter adding some well-placed banjo as Wheldon recalls a time spent living with his brother, who is navigating a deep spell of depression. After the heaviness, “(You’re) All I Ever Wanna Do” closes things out with an English spin on heartland rock.

Lullabies From The Lightning Tree does a great job at being a debut record - it shows off all of the clashing ideas that make Sad Boys Club while having enough peaks to hold everything together. It makes one wonder what could be next for a sophomore effort that crafts more genre consistency. For now, though, let’s enjoy a young band finding its footing more with each release.

Lullabies From The Lightning Tree is available now on Modern Sky.