The 2010s were pivotal for emo. After a decade of its sound being manipulated by pop radio and its name left near-meaningless, it was clawed back to its home: the hardcore scene. What resulted was an underground apogee, the so-called “emo revival”, bringing forward many of its now-legendary acts, from Joyce Manor to Title Fight to Modern Baseball. One of the most appropriate to trace its history is Andrew Sacher, ex-senior editor for Brooklyn Vegan, who spent over a decade and a half covering the scene. In Emo Revival, he does exactly that.
Generally, “emo revival” refers specifically to circa 2008’s resurgence of the twinkly, math and post-rock-indebted “Midwest emo” sound that 1990s groups Cap’n Jazz and Braid pioneered. In Emo Revival, Sacher takes a broader definition to encompass the gamut of emo in the American hardcore scene from then until the late 2010s. He indiscriminately focuses on interrelated movements and styles such as the early stages of the defend pop-punk era (the Wonder Years, the Story So Far), soft grunge (Title Fight, Citizen) and twinkly screamo (Lion of the North, Forever and Always). There is an equal split between overt Midwest emo revival and the Wave, a collective of bands mostly fusing melodic hardcore and screamo (Touché Amoré, Pianos Become the Teeth, La Dispute).
Sacher traces the first discussion of the emo revival in a major publication to Ian Cohen’s 2013 review of Crash of Rhinos’ Knots for Pitchfork. Although that band’s sect of twinkling British math pop (TTNG, the Jesus Years, Andy, Glen and Ritch) is excluded. This is rightful due to beginning too early, their distinct geographical circumstances and their emo elements being so diluted. There is, however, more than a chapter dedicated to Canadian bands Pup and Metz.
In this context, the book is largely a discussion of “fourth-wave US emo“, when bands rejected their mainstream “third-wave” variants that My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Taking Back Sunday popularised. By doing so, it exposes how nebulous a term “emo revival” really is, tracing its way to the beginning of the third-wave or possibly even the end of the second-wave with Halfway to Holland and the Progress.
Its broad scope benefits from Midwest emo’s semantic bleaching during that fourth wave. At that time, the term strayed from specifically the Louisville math and post-rock-influenced style. It came to refer to a broader spectrum of indie-leaning 1990s emo, like Texas Is the Reason and Sense Field, even the grunge-informed styles of Sunny Day Real Estate and Mineral.
This broadening is unfortunately left out of the book, which hurts some context. Despite frequently referencing American Football as one of the most influential Midwest emo bands, it treats this status as undisputed. Conversely, they were not considered such when they began. They were a band rooted in Tortoise‘s post-rock, whose members were formerly in emo bands. It was the embrace of their clean, arpeggiated guitar style during the fourth wave that grandfathered them into the genre.
The book introduces a few new concepts that usefully compartmentalise the movement for ease of understanding. The most obvious is splitting fourth-wave emo into two separate “generations”: 2008-2012 for the overt revivalism and 2012-2018 for the expansion upon that sound. During the final three years of the second generation, many acts were becoming increasingly experimental in an attempt to escape the “revival” label. For this period, Joyce Manor present the title “The Green Era”.
There is also a chapter dedicated to the “new wave of Connecticut hardcore”, referring to that city’s role in the wave. Less consequential but equally compelling is My Heart to Joy’s discussion of how being left out of the Wave led them to form their own collective with Native and Hostage Calm called “The Quake”. Unlike the Wave, this collective was mostly lost to the sands of time.
Emo Revival‘s structuring acknowledges narrative form, sometimes missed in books of this genre. Early on, much emphasis is put on the movement occupying a space between hardcore and indie rock. There’s even a chapter dedicated to the indie rock bands who sometimes crossed over into the emo revival. This narratively sets the stage for later acts who took from a broader spectrum of indie and alternative, like Pity Sex or Narrow Head.
There is a certain level of generalisation that has to be made to discuss a whole movement. For example, the book presents it as a reaction against the dominant emo-pop-punk and pop screamo styles of the third wave. This mentality is discussed by the members of Touché Amoré and Into It Over It. However, influence from commercial pop-punk, or even those genres directly, is still discussed by Joyce Manor, the Wonder Years, and Tigers Jaw.
A less prominent narrative Sacher focuses on is how many of the movement’s acts had roots in ska punk and easycore. Particularly, how their route to emo was through the gruff punk of Hot Water Music and Against Me, those acts embraced twinkle guitars due to their proximity to twinklers. Of this trend, the most focused on are the Menzingers, Hostage Calm, and Wave members Make Do and Mend. There are also some mentions of early Basement and Superheaven; however, other prominent players like Transit are mentionless, and Polar Bear Club appear only once.
Andrew Sacher’s decision to have the book be mostly prose with interviews, rather than the more common oral histories, is commendable. It allows for analysis and recontextualisation that acknowledges the artist’s primary view but does not treat it as total fact. However, it does fall into the usual trap of relying on the reader to remember a large number of names. The most intuitive fix would be to stick to quotes from a small number of relevant people in each paragraph or chapter, structuring sentences in ways to contextualise who an outside quote is from. Another rectification could have been including a “Cast of Characters” as done in Albert Mudrian’s Choosing Death (2004) or Tony Rettman’s Straight Edge (2017).
Emo Revival is the most extensive discussion that emo’s fourth wave has experienced. It reflects the borders of the period in which it is set, a time when “emo” became an umbrella as wide as hardcore itself. It is self-aware of its title’s irony, exploring an overlapping social ecology, not just emo, but pop punk and indie rock. Despite this, lines are still drawn effectively. For a fourth-wave emo fan, this is the holy text.