With two years passing since their last album, The Wrecks are back with their most recent album, Sonder. Sonder released on June 10, 2022 following the release of their most recent single “Where Are You Now” which can also be heard on this album. Sonder experiments with a variety of genres and sounds and shows the process of how Frontman Nick Anderson survived a former breakup and used it to progress both himself and the sound and lyrics of The Wrecks. Anderson reflects on the process and says that this album “opened up [their] writing process. I’d say our lyrics have always been honest and vulnerable, and not only was I able to depend on that narrative compass once again, but I found it taking me to a whole new place this time creatively.” Overall, this eleven-track album discusses the ups and downs of a breakup and the process of overcoming it.
Track 1: Sonder
“Sonder” starts the album off strong, with subtle guitar strumming in the background while the bass and drums are used to emphasize the lyrics after each line is completed. The lyrics emphasize the frustrations faced during a breakup, and he sings in the chorus, “I thought by know you would understand sonder,” but what does sonder mean?
Sonder (n):
the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own
To understand Sonder means realizing that everyone you pass is living their lives, including yourself, but you are just another person they see on the streets, and you are not the most important person in the world, and the lyrics emphasize this by saying “here comes the truth / it’s not about you.” The track is a great opener for the remainder of the album.
Track 2: I Love This Part
One of The Wrecks earliest singles of this year, the liberating alt-rock track “I Love this Part” continues to venture through the ups and downs of a breakup, but especially the feelings of what you wanted out of it and how you have to “let go” of those ideas. The song starts by saying “I’m not your father’s son,” a line heard throughout the song. “I am my father’s son” is an idiom that mostly means “I’m a chip off the old block.” By saying “I’m not your father’s son,” he is stating he is not the same as them. The song starts slow strong, with it picking up by the second chorus. With lyrics in the chorus like “this is the part where you recognize / this was your fault and you made it mine / this is the part where you’re off my mind / this is the part you get left behind” and this is the part he loves, moving on and letting go. If you’ve gone through a recent break up, this is definitely the song to listen to.
Track 3: Where Are You Now? (feat. Girlhouse)
After all the heavier songs, “Where Are You Now” is a beautiful call-and-response ballad featuring Girlhouse. This song is a somber remembrance of the relationship, reflecting and seeking closure for the relationship, asking “where are you now.” In the response, Lauren Luiz sings “we were twenty-three, I was nervous / tracing butterflies on the curtains / thinking that there’s gonna come a day / when I finally take his name / and I know I don’t deserve it,” showing the internal doubts of their relationship and how the ups and downs can make you feel “underserving.” The song ends asking the same question and is all about finding closure.
Track 4: Don’t Be Scared
Next on the track list is “Don’t Be Scared” which gives a classic rock feel. A little different from the previous themes, the track highlights the current societal climate with lyrics like “white rioters trying to be the good guys / broadcasting their actions for the co-sign.” A repeated line in the song is “what’s it gonna take before you listen up,” as a cry to pay attention to the world we live in as we “keep chasing paper until we die.” The song is definitely an eye-opener.
Track 5: Unholy
This alternative track featuring amazing breakdowns and beautiful synths, slightly treading the genre of pop. Tying to the previous theme of the last song and overall breakup theme, “Unholy” starts with lyrics that say “you used to cover rage or praise the police,” and “I used to have some hope, some hope you would change / blamed it on your folks and how you were raised.” These previous disagreement on views “broke” him and forced him to change to who he use to be, “back and better than ever.” Feeling like his old self makes him feel “unholy” as she “wore [their] pride like a purity ring.” Something’s taken over him, bringing back his old self, and thus making him feel “unholy,” yet better than ever.
Track 6: Dystopia
This track may be one of my favorites on the album. The song starts with only strumming of the guitar and singing, with lyrics like “I never asked to change your mind / I asked you to speak” and “I watched our differences grow / into an ignorant beast.” The chorus bends genres, adding electronic synths and building to the second verse and chorus, adding more rock elements as it builds. The song ties the themes previously spoken in the other songs, but also how their differences are building resentment and leading them to “dystopia.”
Track 7: Unrequited
Unrequited love is not a rare feeling and one many can relate to. Another loss ballad, “Unrequited” shows the dichotomy in how people heal from breakups. While he is trying to grapple with the breakup and his love for them, they are off beginning to live her own life. He is remembering their past relationship while wondering where he went wrong, what changed, and grappling with still loving them although he is saying goodbye. This track is a beautiful tug and pull of still loving someone even after breaking up.
Track 8: No Place I’d Rather Be
This pop-ballad gives the same feeling of waking up after a good night next to someone you love. The lyrics are dreamy, as the chorus says “I want it all, a million dollar place where / We fall in love, looking over the waves.” He would follow them anywhere, plant their soul, because the only place he would rather be is with them. The track gives the feeling of longing, whimsically with a beautiful guitar solo before the final chorus. It’s a great song to just vibe to.
Track 9: Ugly Side
This upbeat track begs to see the ugly side. In it, the lyrics contrast from showing his bad side while she tries to hide her own, saying “I bet you practice all those faces / you use to get you by.” He was mesmerized by all the good she showed, being able to envision a life with them, “forever,” but when he did see a bit, he ran. In the lyrics, he explains trying to see their ugly side, but he was too scared to, so he ran from it, rather than facing it and got damaged in the process, underlying the album theme of “breakups.” The song ends with the chorus repeating, with lyrics like “show me your ugly side / and I will show you mine / so we don’t waste our time” leaving this idea in your head that if people show their true selves, their ugly sides, in the beginning, then no one will waste their time, and this idea is important for any type of relationship to blossom.
Track 10: Normal
This beautiful track goes through the turmoil of processing the ending of a relationship, showing the self-doubt one often faces when they are now alone. The track is upbeat, but the lyrics counter that as he says in the chorus “I just wanna see the world like everybody else does / I just wanna fall in love like everybody else does / How come it’s so hard for me, how come it’s so hard for me? What does it take to be normal?” These are often questions someone asks at the end of a relationship, wondering what makes them difficult to love. The track is great for getting emotions out and reflecting.
Track 11: Lone Survivor
This edgy indie-pop track is a great finisher for the album, and a great follow-up to “Normal,” a track that showed the dark side of blaming yourself in a breakup. In comparison, “Lone Survivor” shows what he would do for her love, but he “treats [him] like [he doesn’t] matter,” so he has moved on and survived the breakup. He would’ve done anything for her, but “she’s cold like a cadaver.” The lyrics ride along the melody smoothly making it an easy song to vibe to and the lyrics make it better. The song ends with an explosion, a big finish for a big ending to a relationship.
The album flows seamlessly from track to track and is perfect for processing emotions during a breakup. The album features witty, frantic genre-bending tracks but also mesmerizing alternative ballads. Each person who listens to each can find the right song for them; it’s a work of art.
You can stream “Sonder” below:
