The Backseat Lovers hit the scene with a bang with “Kilby Girl” blowing up on Tiktok from their album “When We Were Friends,” and since then they have proved to be wise beyond their years.

Their music involves catchy and complex arrangements, paired with amazing vocal performances by lead singer Joshua Harmon. Their themes start simple enough with heartbreak and pain, but the lyrics are vivid and personal, perfectly matched by the passion and catharsis of the music accompanying it. “Waiting to Spill” was born out of the group’s realization that they wanted to make a body of work instead of just a collection of songs, which is a near masterpiece and a revelation for the band.

The first track, “Silhouette,” is a perfect opener, introducing a calming acoustic guitar with interpolation of dirtier, electric guitar progressions. The track sets the tone for the album, which uses mostly acoustic guitar and piano arrangements to build up its momentum into exciting melodic climaxes. The song exemplifies the experimentation in “Waiting to Spill,” including running voice memos through pedals, a piano part played in reverse and playing a droning E note out of the side of a moving vehicle, to a pair of microphones so they could capture the Doppler effect of causing a natural key change to D. The lyrics are short but foreboding with Harmon singing, “Run while you can, while you are still a silhouette,” establishing the mystery about the narrator’s identity and future plans that begins his arc of the album. The ambient sounds that end the track create a feeling of peace similar to the energy alternative rock band Wilco did on their magnum opus “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.”

The sound of “Waiting to Spill” matches the late autumn feeling of when it was released, and is further portrayed by the soothing slice-of-life album cover. The second track, “Close Your Eyes,” captures a raw feeling that the entire album emanates. The track tackles fatherhood in a bittersweet way with Harmon singing “Could you waste your life / If you painted mine?” These lyrics confront the father claiming he wasted his life by raising his children and how it informs the narrator’s fear of growing up himself when he sings “Oh, I’d hate to get any older.”

Much of the album focuses on different aspects of getting older and the emotions intertwined in that process of life. “Growing/Dying,” the album’s lead single, shows Harmon’s powerful vocals that have adopted a grit to them. The dissonant, noisy electric guitar solos in between the verses reflect the narrator’s irritation at his state in life. When Harmon sings “It would be nice to know / When I’ll decide to grow,” it further shows these agitations building up. Another brilliant line, also in congruence with the theme of the song, is “Why does the wall insist I have my back against it?”

The emotional apex of “Waiting to Spill” is “Words I used,” a duet between Harmon and lead guitarist Jonas Swanson. The Backseat Lovers take major inspiration from The Beatles here in the piano balladry and the use of putting two separate songs together into one, which was famously done in “A Day in the Life.” Like that song, the structure transforms after a chaotic crescendo, but unlike Lennon and McCartney staying separate in their parts, Harmon and Swanson harmonize in a beautifully crushing end to the song. The themes dip back into the lyrical content of the predecessor about a relationship in strife where Swanson sings “Cause my dear there’s nothing left in here/so just hold on/ but don’t hold onto me.” While it may be ground they’ve covered before, every single word and note has an enormous heart.

The following song, “Snowbank Blues” follows up on the previous track’s themes with a sad and cozy feeling of losing the girl you are in love with that is thousands of miles away in the big city. The song feels like a drab demo played in a snowy, melancholic cabin, and with Harmon’s sweet and soulful vocals, the intimacy is at its highest in the whole project.

“Slowing Down” is one of the most relatable tracks in the entire project. In the song, the rhythmic electric guitar progression has a tinge of fear and unease that are illustrated by Harmon’s questioning and fears of holding his partner back singing “People moving faster/ Am I the only one that’s slowing down?/ Am I slowing you down?” The song ends with a whirlwind of noisy guitar soundscapes with the consistent piano melody played underneath which persisted for most of the song that feels like a state of panic coming through the music.

Another epic climax of the project, “Know Your Name,” shows Harmon taking vocal influence from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. The resignation at the end of the lyrics, saying “The pain, it goes away / but the change, will know your name,” puts a nice footnote on the themes of pain throughout the album, showing how changing and growing up often comes with the experience of deep pain.

The closer, “Viciously Lonely,” is charming and homey, featuring the narrator coming to an acceptance about the upcoming stage in his life. It is a masterful closing song that does its job of putting together all of the storytelling and sounds of the record into a satisfying conclusion. Starting with a simple, pretty acoustic guitar progression, Harmon sings “picking fights with the ghost downstairs / turn off the lights and plug my ears,” showing the narrator coming to an awareness and acceptance that he is trying to stay in the past. The piano, bass and drums kick in with ambient and comforting sound effects. The narrator begins to find beauty in the change by noting natural changes in the landscape he witnesses every day, “The trees are killing off in a lovely kind of way.” The track addresses the heartbreak from earlier in the album as well, with Harmon singing “I tend to spend a couple hours a day / waiting by the phone hoping there’s nothing to say,” which is another point of acceptance after denying the relationship would end. After a profound and transformative slide guitar solo, the rain sounds that permeated the song finally take over in a peaceful resignation in its closing seconds.

A true triumph from the group, their evolving and morphing influences with intelligence and insightfulness is something most bands would kill to possess. Like some of the most impactful albums of all time, “Waiting to Spill” is a spiritually and thought-provoking album akin to the soothing and beautiful experience of sitting on your porch on a nippy, autumn afternoon contemplating and facing what life’s challenges will arrive next.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars