Breach: Twenty-One Pilots

The Ohio duo Twenty One Pilots made their breakthrough in 2015 with a blend of sentimental alt-rock, fake reggae, and nasally rap that left listeners asking: Where are their pants, and who are these watered-down Linkin Park/311 hybrids? Guitarist Josh Dun and singer and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Joseph positioned themselves as defiantly uncool music for “the few, the proud, and the emotional.”. Their faith-based introspection and high-concept nonsense were perfect for dorky high schoolers who were trying to figure out who they were. The band became an easy target due to the angsty, sheltered attitude of lyrics like “I wasn’t raised in the hood, but I know a thing or two about pain and darkness” from “Lane Boy.” However, the band’s genuine attempt to address mental illness won them a fan base known as “the Skeleton Clique,” years before therapyspeak became a common pop lingo term. In a good way, Pilots might serve as a springboard to more complex rap and alternative music; in a bad way, they produced music for people who were easily impressed.

But Sleep Token’s album hits No when the Chainsmokers start acting sulky. 1. It is the footprints of Dun and Joseph in the sand. Turnstile hired Pilots engineer Adam Hawkins to work on their records, and they were also a childhood favorite of Billie Eilish. Joseph transitioned to a more intricate, evocative sound with Paul Meany of the 2000s rock group Mutemath beginning with 2018’s Trench. He even developed as a lyricist, which culminated in songs like “Next Semester,” which was released last year and methodically revealed details of a suicide attempt: “I remember/I remember certain things/What I was wearing/The yellow dashes in the street.”. “.”.

The eighth Pilots album, Breach, is the last installment in a convoluted storyline that spans almost their whole career. In summary, the main character Clancy tries to flee Dema, but he is constantly pulled back by the malevolent Bishops. Clancy becomes a member of the Banditos, who essentially act as a proxy for the Skeleton Clique, and they band together to fight the Bishops. Dystopian-YA window dressing is used to illustrate the idea that healing is not linear. Clancy battles Bishops leader Blurryface for the final time on Breach—yes, the one who, if you were close to a radio ten years ago, gave a damn about your opinions. Because no one else would take it into consideration, Joseph and Dun send Clancy off with a chaotic, maximalist record that no one else could make.

In its most basic form, this is Twenty One Pilots. A five-minute litmus test, “City Walls” features soaring choruses, fuzzy bass tones, overdriven drums, enormous “oh-woah” hooks, and yes, rapping. Additionally, it’s blatant fan service; their single “Holding on to You” is interpolated into the song, and the utterly ridiculous $1 million music video regularly references earlier work. Although the video shows Clancy’s surrender to a religious cult, it’s interesting to hear a Christian band repeat the line “entertain my faith,” but this isn’t the band to deal with those ramifications.

Pilots, who previously contributed to the soundtrack of Suicide Squad, now captures the exuberant spirit of James Gunn’s Superman reboot. It’s not necessary to be aware of the Bishops’ necromancing abilities to appreciate “The Contract’s” crazy vocal processing and breakbeat, which is reminiscent of a snowboarding game. The song “Garbage” builds on the line “never slowing down,” then suddenly shifts back to the original tempo—because he can’t break the cycle—before Joseph blurts out, “I feel like garbage!” There are dumb-clever antics all throughout. Very little time is left between “Cottonwood,” a heartfelt ode to Joseph’s grandfather, and the contemplative conclusion, “Intentions.”. ” There’s also “Downstairs,” a dolled-up demo from their pre-major label days, but the vestigial self-seriousness feels out of place on an album like this.

Joseph’s nuanced relationship with his fans continues to be the most captivating theme in the Pilots catalog. When his own mental health declined, he felt accountable for theirs in Vessel’s standout song, “Guns for Hands” (give or take a reggae break). On Trench ballad “Neon Gravestones,” he cautioned them not to glorify his death should he one day lose his battle with depression. Breach is where the tension peaks. Someone briefly stole a kick drum from Dun’s kit during a performance earlier this year, and the band samples a fan’s warning, “I really don’t think you should take that!” on “Center Mass.” Joseph, apparently in reaction to this disaster, pays homage to his burned-out bandmate, who is “stuck between a rock and a home, two places he does not wanna go,” on “Drum Show.”. A genuinely sincere band freely acknowledges their disappointment when Joseph states, “This has not been interesting in a while,” on “One Way.”.

Twenty One Pilots’ continuous attempts at hip-hop are all the more frustrating because their best songs are usually pure pop tunes, such as Scaled and Icy’s “Shy Away.”. When Joseph gave Zane Lowe a playlist of his favorite songs, the only rapper on it was Matisyahu, and Ben Gibbard appeared twice. The call-and-response on “Center Mass” is very “Reincarnated,” so it sounds like they may have given GNX a cursory listen on Breach, but their interest in the genre is still very superficial. Tyler “gangstas don’t cry, so I’m Mr. Misty Eyed” Joseph singing about “empty Uzis” on “Rawfear” has never sounded less legit. When they strike the right balance, however, they produce some of their best work to date: “Mass” begins with a verse that is appropriately melancholic over a two-chord vamp and concludes with an incredibly thrilling double-time outro.

Currently, it’s difficult to envision a cultural reassessment of Twenty One Pilots, the way that people who grew up in the ’00s eventually gave their flowers to Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance (both of which are clearly influenced). However, MGK and Pilots’ attempts at a similar style without the same ambition put their merits in perspective, and at least Pilots are fully dedicated to their uncool niche. Eliminating the rapping completely would increase their respect, but it would also drastically alter the band’s identity and the reasons it has succeeded thus far. The rebels must find another “Clancy” to carry on the battle after poor Clancy is unable to break the cycle, in a plot twist reminiscent of Matrix Reloaded. The conclusion is surprisingly sobering: Although nobody here surpasses their limitations, it’s only a question of time until they do so once more.

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