The Good Tracks are Amazing While Others Need to be Sent Back Through The Green Door for Further Work
Artist: The Discarded
Album: The Green Door
The Green Door Album Cover, Artwork by Rachael Muir
The Discarded’s most recent album, The Green Door, is currently streaming on all platforms after its release on November 25th, 2024. Originating from Orangeville, Ontario, in Canada, The Discarded is a father-son band consisting at its core of the lead singer JP Wasson and JP’s two children. Caden Wasson is the band’s drummer and Jared Wasson is the bass guitarist. The band is currently working with Ben Keestra and Michael McKenzie on guitar as well. McKenzie is well known for working with the Goo Goo dolls, Tragically Hip, and Alanis Morissette. These musical influences fit very well with The Discarded’s classic rock sound that is predominantly featured on this album.
Throughout The Green Door, some songs excel, others fall flat or are just truly unremarkable. This album does not truly stick to one theme or genre either. The album primarily seems to focus on a classic rock feel reminiscent of bands like AC/DC or the Ramones; however, some songs delve more into an almost hip-hop rock genre or a slower, more rock-country style. Of the 10 songs, there were three that stood out as being better produced and written; however, there were also three that felt the opposite.
“Ooh Yeah”, has a truly classic rock feeling reminiscent of songs like AC/DC’s “ You Shook Me All Night Long”. This track felt like it was already radio rock that a listener would have been hearing on the radio for decades. It has a great sound and is catchy enough to get stuck in a listener’s head for the rest of the day. The lyrics did feel a little bit basic and lacked depth, but they are likely relatable enough for the average casual listener that this can be overlooked. This song, honestly, featured the best production on the whole album, it felt like a radio-produced song with high-quality recording and mixing. The guitar and drums were strong enough to create a proper rock ambiance but were mixed at the right level so that the vocals were not overshined or drowned out. This song’s classic rock feeling is appealing to a wide range of listeners and would make for a great energetic song to listen to while working on a project or hobby. The song truly leaves no room for critique as its production felt pretty spot on.
Another song that surprisingly stood out on the album was “A Couple of Cats”. The introduction of this song is unsuspecting. It starts as a fairly typical rock song. However, throughout the course of the song it truly picks up and creates a unique listening experience. The song feels busy, with a lot of quickly paced and layered guitar and drums. Despite this busyness, it does not feel excessive or affect the listening experience in any negative way. There’s a nice vocal layering effect with an almost melodic and gentle voice in the background, shadowing the more powerful and raspy rock tone of the primary vocal overlay. The song’s lyrics are again somewhat shallow and lacking significant meaning and depth, however, it still makes for a good and easy listen for a casual music listener. Toward the end of the song, there’s an interesting tempo change that does an excellent job of keeping the listener’s attention. Despite this tempo being slower, it does not detract from the upbeat and quick pacing of the song. At the end of this slower period, this song does a great job of transitioning back to the faster energy to close out with a strong finish.
The last phenomenal song, and truly the best track on the album, was “I’m Not Very Helpful”. Being the middle track of the album, “I’m Not Very Helpful” provided a unique and welcomed break from the usual Rock style featured throughout The Green Door. With a much slower, more country-rock pace, this song had amazing vocals and a perfect guitar riff to match. This song felt like something you would hear performed in a cozy bar. The lyrics of the song were funny and somewhat relatable, allowing listeners to connect with the material in a more personal way. The closest comparison to this song would be Bo Burnham with his comedic songs such as “Life’s Gonna Suck” which has the same pacing and overall feeling as “I’m Not Very Helpful”. Another unique element of this track was an almost talking-like vocal delivery of some lyrics which brought this song to the next level by breaking the fourth wall with the listener and adding to the bar performance feel.
Image of The Discarded by Rick McGinnis
Despite having these three truly strong tracks, one that did not have the same capturing effect was “Wait and See”. Despite having a nice beat, the lyrics left a lot to be desired, feeling out of place with the music and lacking any true meaning. Moreover, the lyrics were also repetitive, it became a bit too predictable to keep a listener engaged. During the chorus of the song, there’s a harmonization that seems to work better with the backing track music; however, as soon as the chorus ends, it unfortunately returns to the out-of-place pacing. Overall, it was a bit disappointing since this song had such a strong opening and an amazing rock feel but the lyrics and vocal mixing entirely fell short of expectations.
“Going Down to the Beach” followed suit with similar lyrical and musical issues. The overall backing beat was strong and had a presence like The Ramones with their catchy and bouncy beats. But despite the catchy beat, the drum fills felt excessive and a little bit overpowering, causing them to overtake the amazing guitar riffs that were faintly present. After the start of the song though, these drum fills seem to settle down and allow for more of the guitar work to shine through as well. Lyrically, the song’s rhymes felt like they were a bit too much. They felt extremely forced instead of natural, almost giving off a Mad Lib or writing prompt-type feeling where somebody might have to make sentences out of matching words. The lyrics felt like an afterthought to the rhyming words, with the sentences not fully fitting into a cohesive piece. Instead, it felt like the song was just trying to use the selected rhyming words, forcing them into places they didn’t fit. This awkward wording was very prominent in lyrics such as “Feel the water on my feet, / I really think that would be sweet” and “I think that I need to think / More than I need to smoke and drink”. This song had such a good overall feel and opportunity to be a great hit, but the lyrics, unfortunately, did not live up to that same standard.
Track four, “Twenty Years Gone By”, was the least well-produced and properly formulated song on the album. This song felt like it was going for a heavier metal vibe than the guitar effects could support. There are certain pedals used for guitars that can create a deeper, more rumbly effect that is most commonly used in metal music and would have significantly benefited this song. However, the lack of these pedals and effects causes the guitar to feel washed out—out of place against the heavier drum beat and heavy metal vocals. The guitar in the song was honestly amazing and had it better fit the heavy metal tone it would have sounded even better. The bass guitar provided a strong deeper tone throughout the song.
Unfortunately, despite the vocals having a great heavy metal presence, the actual lyrics themselves became sort of confusing to me. The lead singer comes across as aggressive and powerful about cutting someone off in life, but the lack of detail and explanation leaves the topic undeveloped. In this sort of emotionally charged music, people tend to look for something they can relate to, a powerful emotion that they feel and can be conveyed through music. This song fails to provide that personal connection to the listener, meaning they have no attachment to the emotion held by the song. Had the lyrics built upon a deeper topic that a wider range of listeners could relate to, this vocal power and sentiment could have better built a connection and supported the message of the song more effectively. The lyrics of the song also continued that odd rhyming scheme, occasionally even rhyming a word with itself which felt underproduced and not properly thought out. Despite being a catchy song, these issues as well as the song’s excessive length made it not as enjoyable as it had the potential to be.
An Image of the Band Performing Via their Facebook Page
This album, overall, had some very strong tracks as well as some songs with lyrics and musical elements that could have used a lot more work. Having said that, the good songs on the album truly excelled at their genre and are an amazing listen for any enjoyers of classic rock. This album and the other releases by The Discarded can be found on their website as well as on most popular streaming platforms. On their website, a list of their past performances is available which is updated as they book more shows. The Band also posts a lot on its Facebook Page. Keep your eye on their website and Facebook page if you would like to see them live or would like to keep up to date with information about their future releases!