Great piece, Miranda. Scene taxonomy is such a weird, idiosyncratic thing. For me, I think the crest and trough of each wave and the inevitable ascent that presages each 'revival' is as much a product of transitory taste as it is cultural resonance. My first experiences with emo land right in the uptake of the third wave, and while I still adore many of those bands, it's clear that they wanted to or were forced to move into different genre forms as their careers developed. I think that's mostly just age and degrees of fame and growing up, but it definitely swings both ways with fans as well. Same thing again the fourth wave. Contrasting the first albums from Title Fight or Balance and Composure with their last before they faded away, it's clear that they were trying to do different things at different points in time. And that's what's so exciting about this fifth wave and their incredibly diffuse set of influences and disparate subgenre labels. It's cultural resonance at work in real-time and I'm totally here for it.
I'd mark the end of revival at Goodness, especially since The Hotelier are one of the more important bands from that wave and its likely the last they'll ever release. They've committed to not releasing any more music unless there's literally an anarchist revolution.
Great piece, Miranda. Scene taxonomy is such a weird, idiosyncratic thing. For me, I think the crest and trough of each wave and the inevitable ascent that presages each 'revival' is as much a product of transitory taste as it is cultural resonance. My first experiences with emo land right in the uptake of the third wave, and while I still adore many of those bands, it's clear that they wanted to or were forced to move into different genre forms as their careers developed. I think that's mostly just age and degrees of fame and growing up, but it definitely swings both ways with fans as well. Same thing again the fourth wave. Contrasting the first albums from Title Fight or Balance and Composure with their last before they faded away, it's clear that they were trying to do different things at different points in time. And that's what's so exciting about this fifth wave and their incredibly diffuse set of influences and disparate subgenre labels. It's cultural resonance at work in real-time and I'm totally here for it.
I'd mark the end of revival at Goodness, especially since The Hotelier are one of the more important bands from that wave and its likely the last they'll ever release. They've committed to not releasing any more music unless there's literally an anarchist revolution.