2023 Albums #6

• Album: Infinity On High
• Artist: Fall Out Boy
• Year: 2007
• Spotify link

I loved this album when it first came out. Looking back now, I feel a bit wistful about it, because it's when Fall Out Boy changed direction, moving away from the pop punk I really loved on "Take This To Your Grave" and "From Under The Cork Tree". The final regular track, "G.I.N.A.S.F.S.", feels like a goodbye to that original sound.

I found it strangely hard to listen to this time around; there were a lot of tracks that I wanted to skip, like "The (After) Life Of The Party" and "I've Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers". And at the same time, some that I was fully singing along to even though I hadn't even thought about the lyrics in a decade or more, like "Hum Hallelujah". When I first listened to it, I had the whole thing on repeat, but now I think it's got a few highlights and a lot of filler.

There are some lyrics that I always really loved in "Hum Hallelujah".

I love you in the same way there's a chapel in a hospital.

I thought I loved you but it's just how you looked in the light.

I never quite realised why those lines struck me so strongly when I first listened. I think I just thought they sounded clever. Looking back now, it was a great reflection of the relationship I was in at the time.