_{By Scott Knutson}

Surprising no one, the new Fictionist album absolutely rips.

Surprising perhaps everyone, is how it rips.

Fictionist, a self-described “eclectic post-post-rock semi-experimental existential dad core band from Utah,” has been dropping some of the most delicious music to come out of Provo since 2009. Repeater is their third official studio album (fourth if you count the long-lost debut album that’s harder to find than a tattoo at Brigham Square, and fifth if you throw in the six-track EP they dropped under Atlantic Records), and keeping in tradition, this new record is vastly different from their previous releases.

Compared to their earlier albums, Repeater seems much less layered and intricate. It is more stripped down, bold, and in your face. To be clear, usually when someone says “stripped down,” they mean “acoustic,” but that’s not what is happening here. I am accustomed to Fictionist songs that are awash with synthesizers, intriguing vocal effects, more guitar layers than you could shake a pedalboard at, and other fascinating little soundbites that pop in once and are never heard again. But on Repeater?  The guitars take the wheel and riff your face clean off. 

“Run Around” and “Wish You Were the Water” have a guitar tone that makes me want to buy a leather jacket, steal a motorcycle, and throw a Molotov cocktail at something. It’s like the band overheard someone mutter, “Yeah, Fictionist doesn’t really rock that hard,” and they collectively said, “Bet.”

As a certified zealot of their previous record Sleep Machine, I was thrilled to hear Repeater double down on the heavier tone that peeked out on their title track. It’s like they took the descending riff from “Sleep Machine” and asked themselves, “What if we made a whole album that sounded like this moment?”

The album has its softer moments, too. Tracks like “A Couple More With You” and “$1.99” ease off the gas and offer a few intimate minutes alone with Stu and his guitar. There’s a kind of late-night vulnerability to them. His nostalgic lamenting of times long gone somehow makes me feel both hopeless and hopeful at once. It’s a little heartbreaking. And beautiful.

Is it perfect? No. The one place Repeater stumbled for me is in its lyrics. It’s a mixed bag—about 50/50 between poetic gems that hit you in the gut, and other lines that put the image in my head of someone in front of a white board at band practice asking, “Okay, now what rhymes with ‘dream’?” A few tracks here get a little too literal, a little too “dear diary.” 

Overall, Repeater is a fascinating evolution of Fictionist’s sound. In their own words, “Repeater is our heaviest record to date. It harkens back to a time when we all got massively obsessed with music, when louder was better.” Also, this album is long. Thirteen tracks, clocking in at 57 minutes. By contrast, Sleep Machine had ten songs and wrapped up in twenty minutes. With Repeater, us Fictionist fans are eating well.

They are without-a-doubt Provo music royalty. The band would probably wince if they heard me call them that, but not only do they produce some of the best records, but they put on the best shows. Their musicianship is without equal. If you are a non-believer who questions their sovereignty, attend one of their concerts and bow down. 

Long live the kings.

Be sure to follow Fictionist on Instagram and check out “Wish You Were the Water” below!