Vacation Manor, a self-proclaimed indie rock band from Nashville, TN, had quite the year in 2018. The group released two singles, “Say We’ll Make It” and “Careless (Live from the Living Room),” along with their album “Everything I Can’t Say Out Loud.” Since their first single “A Toast and a Spirit” was released in 2015, the band has amassed over 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, with some of their popular songs hitting well over a few million hits — and for good reason.
Although relatively new to the scene, Vacation Manor has crafted a vibe that’s authentic and true to themselves. The album’s opener, “All a Dream,” is dreamy and optimistic, being purely instrumental until around the one-minute mark. Synths and strings blend in the background to sound like something between ethereal and jamming. “Say We’ll Make It” has a similar groove, but perhaps a little more upbeat. According to Spotify, this track is among the group’s most-listened-to songs, with over 350,000 streams. Overall, the first two songs on the album hit high on the head-bopping scale.
“Move On” opens with heavier guitar, sounding similar to a Hippo Campus or even a 1975 song, and is one of my personal favorites from the album. It’s definitely leaning heavier into the rock aspect of the band’s vibes, comparable to their older songs “A Toast and a Spirit” or “Careless.” Vacation Manor provides listeners with a real opportunity to get down and jam with this track.
The rest of the album departs a bit from the earlier tracks, somewhat mellowing out. “Somewhere Soon” and “Light Another” sound like a chilled out indie-pop outfit. “Hourglass” starts off almost folksy with light strums and solemn vocals. It’s also one of the album’s more somber songs, with lyrics like “When I look in your eyes it feels the same/So, where do you bury all the pain?” and “I feel cool wind and I can see all the broken glass at your feet/And you’re broken now as you weep.”
The last song, ironically titled “Don’t Say It’s Over,” ties together the entire album. Dancing somewhere along the edge of optimistic and melancholic and between pop and rock, the track sounds like it’s saying goodbye to something, without really ever saying what. It might be about a lost love or friend, but could just as easily be referring to a period of time in one’s life or their hometown.
The whole album sounds like it could be set behind the cinematography of a coming-of-age movie or an edgy young adult flick, full of late-night car rides, nostalgic flashback scenes or picnics on a playground as the sun is setting. Any one of the tracks would be well-suited to play in a club, at a party, or just to yourself while you’re walking to class. Either way, Vacation Manor managed to hit it out of the ballpark in 2018 — leaving listeners with high hopes for 2019.
