Can't Make Any Promises

Album review

Since starting as a solo project for Sam Cook-Parrott's bittersweet bedroom punk songs, Radiator Hospital has evolved in a nonlinear fashion. Cook-Parrott moved from Michigan to Philadelphia and expanded the band into a fully formed live entity, transforming his heart-rending confessional pop into loud and energetic rock without losing any of the project's inherent tenderness. After recording three albums in full band mode, Cook-Parrott handled all the recording and playing duties on 2019's intimate and relatively dialed-back Music for Daydreaming. That album explored new instrumentation, with piano and acoustic instruments at the center of most songs. His fifth album, Can't Make Any Promises, brings the full band (as well as long-time producer Kyle Gilbride) back into the mix, returning to the high impact sound of earlier albums while continuing to experiment with new sounds. There's plenty of straightforward power pop, the album kicking off with the 90-second breakup song "I Can Handle It," tapping into '90s angst on the similarly short and acidic "Yr Head," jangly energy and prominent vocal harmonies on the effervescently catchy "Cartoon Logic," and woozy hooks on midtempo rocker "Spinning." About half of Can't Make Any Promises strays from Radiator Hospital's established formula, however, building on unwavering rhythms from a crude drum machine, bringing in angular and sometimes almost funky guitar lines, and tying everything together with synthesizers and mellow electric piano parts. The first ear-catching moment like this is "Sweet Punisher," a slowly simmering song about the social fallout of a lost relationship (a vague theme that runs throughout the album) that sounds like a D.I.Y. take on the futuristic pop of Eno's Before and After Science. The wiggly synth that plays the tune out seals the deal and makes for a song unlike anything Radiator Hospital has attempted before. "Reason 2 Be" also treads new ground, with a barrage of grainy guitars and loud drum machine clicks serving as the bedding for Cook-Parrott to try out a new falsetto vocal approach. It's almost impossible to distinguish which sounds are synths and which are organic instruments on the lengthy, somber "Warming World," a track where the vocals take their time coming in and then recede quickly back into the melancholy din. It's probably the closest the band has ever come to sounding like the Cure, and again, unlike anything else in their discography. The balance of familiar fizzy pop and treks into the unknown keeps Can't Make Any Promises from feeling like an alienating style overhaul, and Cook-Parrott is wise to play to his strengths as a songwriter often enough to keep the album grounded. The strongest songs happen when the two sides of the album meet in the middle. "Bette (& Me)" is minimal and tuneful, with yearning vocal harmonies and loud guitars peacefully co-existing with a drum machine pulse. Cook-Parrott's songwriting has always had something special about it, and him trying out new ways to engineer the songs themselves results in one of the most interesting and enjoyable Radiator Hospital records yet.

© Fred Thomas /TiVo