Track-by-track.
It’s been 17 years since the release of their debut album, The Silence In Black and White, and Hawthorne Heights are still that band whose music you can cry in your car alone to.
The Rain Just Follows Me is the band’s eighteenth album, released on September 10th, and it has that Hawthorne Heights sound that listeners know and have loved for almost 20 years. It’s a brilliant album, one any Hawthorne Heights fan will love. Hawthorne Heights are JT Woodruff (vocals, guitar), Mark McMillon (guitar, backing vocals), Matt Ridenour (bass, backing vocals), and Chris Popadak (drums). Hawthorne Heights formed in 2001, you might know them from their signature song, “Ohio Is For Lovers.” The Rain Just Follows Me is 11 tracks. It speaks of themes of physical & emotional distance between lead singer and guitarist JT Woodruff from his wife and daughter in Ohio, as well as of his struggle with his personal identity, as he is known for being the frontman of one of the most popular emo bands from the early 2000’s.
I’m far too young to have ever experienced or heard Hawthorne Heights as they were in the early 2000s, but I did grow up with their music — “Ohio Is For Lovers” has always found a place on my playlists throughout the years, and The Rain Just Follows Me is a record which I have no doubt will be the same for me for years to come. The record is full of heartache and honesty, of the reality that comes with living in the industry Woodruff has. Being in the music industry - with a relative amount of fame such as he has - can form a life for you of uneasiness and long-distance everything. It’s fun, but not without its shadows, themes that are prevalent throughout this record. The Rain Just Follows Me also offers comfort to those who are caught in the rain — it lets you know that you’re not alone with whatever you are struggling with.
The Rain Just Follows Me opens with “Constant Dread,” which sounds fresh and alive, while keeping with a traditional, emo- rock sound, the same sound Hawthorne Heights have they’ve had for almost 20 years. “The Rain Just Follows Me,” comes next, a track which is one of my top favorites off this record—, it’ is melodic and feels whole, feels familiar in a great way. “Holy Coast” is vibrant and upbeat, an almost instant-anthem. “Tired and Alone” is a strong track about the distance between lovers and the weight it brings. “Thunder in Our Hearts,” is unforgettable and a head-banger. It is about being together in darkness, that knowing everyone struggles but it’s okay, we have each other.
“Spray Paint It Black,” brings on the prevailing feelings of distance that you experience as a touring musician. Living on the road, being on an entirely different coast from those you love the most for months on end is never anything easy, and this song easily one of the very best off the entire record. “Dull Headlights” details the narrator’s struggle with sobriety, of loneliness and of a changing personality. “We are who we’ve always been,” croons the singer with, a sound of self-doubt. “Palm Canyon Drive” opens with an iconic riff and leads into lyrics that remind me of early 2000’s emo rock songs with lines such as, “I'll be the dust if you'll be the wind / On Palm Canyon Drive / Where our love will never end, you are the color in my life.”
“Seafoam” follows, a track about trying to get better and finding that you have to fail a little bit before you get there—, and while you can’t go back to who you once were, you can keep moving forward to get better. “Words Can’t Hurt” is a great track about growing up into adulthood and finding that everything’s changed. “Bambarra Beach (The End)” is the closing track to The Rain Just Follows Me. It opens with screaming vocals—, a sound known to long-time fans of Hawthorne Heights—, and goes into fast-paced guitar with lyrics that sing of failing but rising again like a phoenix from the ashes.
Overall, this record is great, a gift to both long-time fans and new (and young) listeners. It has that same energy and similar sound their first record had back in 2004, but revised for 2021. It’s bound to become a long-lasting favorite, I know it’s already one of mine.