American Hedonism
What do Thomas Aquinas, Pope Gregory I, and Walker Robinson of Your Neighbors have in common? They have all contributed novel insight into the nature of cardinal sin.
Eight standalone singles, multiple tours across the United States, and four years separate American Hedonism from Your Neighbor’s debut album Love Your Neighbors. Also, seventy of my blog posts, because a review of Walker’s first album was the first post on Passing Time:
Rereading that post, I smile at how much I’ve evolved since starting this blog.1 Since then, I’ve only gotten to see Walker a handful of times, but our friendship has survived the tides of time, the erosion of distance, and the fact that I played a role in introducing him to someone who turned out to be a bad girlfriend…
In 2021, I wrote: “As noted by many a musician: you’ve got your whole life to make your first album, but only six months to make your second.” Well, he took four years to produce his sophomore album. How has Your Neighbors changed in that time?
American Hedonism, above all else, describes the duality of Heaven and Hell. The first song and title track, AMERICAN HEDONISM, dreamily previews the album’s story: a mistaken descent into a carnival of vice, pain, and sin in a vain pursuit of Eden. Looking for satisfaction and fulfillment in the wrong places, knowing they’re the wrong places, and doing it anyway. In two words: American hedonism.
We’re all having fun on the way down
Mixing pleasure with pain now
Making Heaven out of Hell
‘til I fade out
Is there ever a way out?
The next two songs, NO DICE and DOGMA, outline frustration with, and an eventual abandonment, of religion. The end of NO DICE’s first verse:
Heaven's just a state of mind
You could put yourself there anytimeHeaven's is just a state of mind
You could take that trip any way you'd like
is replaced by the cynicism of the last verse:
Hell is just a state of mind
You could put yourself there any timeHell is just a state of mind
Feed my sins any way I like
From there, we fall into the depths of depravity. Walker begins his exploration of the seven deadly sins in earnest. No song on the album better showcases these iniquities than OUTTA MY MIND. Sirach 10:15 says “Pride is the beginning of all sin,” and though I know Walker hasn’t read any Thomas Aquinas he still manages to establish how from Pride flow the other sins (especially Lust).
The song, an orgy “in every sordid way” in both content and genre, blends blasts of bass and erratic samples with catchy pop hooks, metal breakdowns, and screams.2 A sample at the end of the song contains the question asked by the album: “Why should I be moral? Why should I pursue morality? Why shouldn’t I just go after my own happiness?” The album art for this song, along with the next line, “I’M ABOUT TO MAKE A MESS OUT OF YOU,” provides the answer:
There are destructive consequences to unmitigated hedonism. The next song, SARAH, illustrates this fact through its story of the alienation and social ostracism of a victim of sexual abuse. Even still, KILLSWITCH shows the album’s character is still concerned with the state of their soul. “Is there a better version of me, or is this the best it gets?” Even after the degeneracy of the previous songs, Walker is still looking for solace, though it seems like he’s still looking within himself and failing.
The schizophrenia of ANGUISH bridges us to the final song of the album, JOB 40. This song is a call to agency. The biblical motifs become explicit at last, with God’s rebuke to Job thundering over a reminder that “It ain’t your fault that you’re like this/but is it your fault that you’re staying the same?” God reminds Walker, and us, that we have free will, and that he will not—cannot—make choices for us. God speaks to Walker:
You get every day
to make it what you may
It’s my job to create
painting time and space
You could do the same
I made you after me.
Thus this final admonition ends the song, and the album. There is hope there—we are made in God’s image, and have the power to do with that what we may. We can create and do beautiful things. But, as Kierkegaard wrote, “anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” Our infinite choice makes life harder, not easier. Walker explores through this album how the world pushes us toward the easy satisfactions of the flesh. He experiences doubt, in chasing highs he finds lows, and he embraces in full the heresy of “My God’s whatever makes my day.”
These attempts at creating Heaven from Hell fall short. Instead, the loving, caring, endearing voicemail from Walker’s father that marks the true end of album suggests that Walker has found the path: love, and family, and placing his trust in those that deserve it.
Turns out he can manage his existential dizziness.
May we all.
American Hedonism.
Released February 7, 2025.
Written by Walker Robinson, Will Duperier, Ben Van Maarth, Tommy Welton, Colorcase, and Sabawoofa.
Produced by Will Duperier, Walker Robinson, Jack Keller, and Colorcase.
Mixed by Jack Keller.
Mastered by Adam Grover.
Artwork by Matthew Marniella
Listen on Spotify, Youtube, or wherever you listen to your music.
I’ve evolved in my writing, in my interests, and in myself as a person. I would not have written that review the same way if I wrote it now. I’m glad I have the snapshot of myself in time from mid-2021 to reference. Sometimes you need to see where you were to know where you are.
this was such a tastefully written review!! nicely done, neighbor. can't wait to give the album a listen👀
Hey! I saw them live in Austin one time!! Pumped for the new album