Fall Out Boy — Lake Effect Kid EP (08/24/18)
Ten years ago Fall Out Boy released a mixtape called Welcome to the New Administration. It included snippets and demos from the band and various other Decaydance artists. On this mixtape they included a demo of a previously unreleased song called “Lake Effect Kid”. For a guy who was at the peak of his fandom, I’m surprised I let this slip by me as I awaited the release of their fourth album, Folie a Deux. Fortunately, the band has turned the demo into a mastered version and have released it along with two new tracks to celebrate their “biggest homecoming yet.” This refers to their upcoming show at Wrigley Field, in their hometown of Chicago, set for September 8. The city has been a big part of the band’s story and headlining at Wrigley Field for the first time is a massive accomplishment for the band.
These three new songs act as an ode to the city Fall Out Boy (Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman, Andy Hurley) grew up in. “Boomerang my head/Back to the city I grew up in,” Stump belts on the title track, a riff-strong pop-rocker that comes right out of their older days. This is the Fall Out Boy that I fell in love with and it’s so refreshing to hear more of this after the over-the-top pop of their more recent albums. “City in a Garden” is more grandiose, bringing in synths and strings on an epic chorus that has Stump proclaiming, “I love you, Chicago.” “Super Fade” is a lot more oriented towards their newer material, with a hip-hop leaning verse into a chorus that holds similar energy to “Young and Menace.”
Congratulations, Fall Out Boy on the upcoming show at Wrigley Field and thanks for the new tunes. Give us some more like this in the future, thanks. 4/5
