It’s been ten years since La Dispute released his sophomore LP, Wildlife. The world is a radically different place, but somehow the record still feels as fresh as when it was first released.

Another annotation would have to be made regarding the non-lyrical content of all of La Dispute’s work. As opposed to similar genres like screamo and hardcore where the vocalists are either screaming or carefully singing, Dreyer can transition from a loud scream to a verse that’s being whispered while also transitioning the emotions the voice has to show to match the content that’s being sung. Among other things like good mixing of diverse elements and instruments.

The foundation for this album, as for the previous one, Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair (2008) (and the next one, Rooms of the House (2014)), is the breakup of the narrator with whom he had a very close relationship, to the point where Dreyer can ask, “don’t I sing your name out / Right at the same time that I sing my own?”

The structure of the album is pretty well-defined: the “letters” or “monologues” (‘a Departure’, ‘a Letter’, ‘a Poem’, ‘a Broken Jar’) define the themes for the songs in between them, they are the guide for us, the listeners.

The songs in between are not direct accounts of Dreyer’s persona, but rather he expresses himself through the “stories” of others. The others are members of La Dispute’s hometown, which is also a recurring theme in Rooms of the House (2014).

The first theme is the feeling of loneliness, abandonment and isolation. It is hard to harmonise with the city in which I live in, I cannot play to its rythm. And the rythm has become such that the church ended up empty and desolated. But I also feel depressed because every single one of my friends left this town to live elsewhere, I am all alone.

The second theme is the attempt to overcome this feeling of loneliness, finding a way around it. The city feels empty and I can very well leave it and go somewhere else maybe not to forget but to change my mental state. Or maybe I can make the feeling go by finding some warm body that will make me forget, it will allow me to re-discover me.

It is important to note that the first theme is a consequence of what the author went through with the unknown destinatary. It is from here, the feeling of loneliness, that one wants to overcome it by either switching things up or getting to know someone new. However, neither of the options are enough for our narrator, and he is considering death as an escape from the despair that has befallen him.

And we get to the centrepiece of the album: death. Not any death, a kid’s death, consequence of a drive-by shooting. ‘King Park’ is the most powerful song I have ever heard. The imagery, the careful description of both the physicality and emotions of those involved, Dreyer’s pondered performance, the perfect arrangement of instruments, and obviously, the hard-hitting question that shocks every single human that has listened carefully. And even if Dreyer himself said that ‘Edward Benz, 27 times’ was the axis for the whole album, ‘King Park’ earned that place.

Edward Benz was stabbed 27 times by his own son. One would think that there would be little to say after that, but La Dispute manages to craft a song that poetically narrates the event, as well as the remembrance of it by our narrator. The mere thought of the event causes a flood of emotions in the narrator, and it is because of this that he will forever think of Edward Benz.

A diary reciting the days and experiences a mom had to go through when she found out that her son had cancer. The kid could find strength in all the things, he sould smile and keep fighting against the disease. He claimed that Jesus suffered more, so it was fine. Dreyer’s interpretation of the last entry in the diary is noteworthy. The narrator is unable to experience what the kid went through, and his eyes are necessarily closed.

It is only after examining these stories, that our narrator can assert that every single human being goes through some form of pain or suffering in their lives, and he suggests that it is only by experiencing it that we might see what we are truly made of. The answer will most likely shock each and every one of us. Although, whatever may afflict us and make us feel hopeless, we will never have to go through it on our own, there will be some one that can walk along with us. We don’t need to be alone.

I was going to write that this masterpiece could be characterised as sempiternal, because I thought “timeless” was a cliché. However, while writing this I came to the realisation that the whole album is playing with time and the different perspectives of it, seamlessly transitioning from one to the other. It is timeless not only because it is a masterpiece but also because of the very way it is constructed.