I like a song that lets me know out the gate exactly what I am getting myself into. “Existential Love Song” from Arizona emo stalwarts Celebration Guns is exactly what the title would lead you to believe, as lead singer Justin Weir debates whether he even believes in love any more, let alone if he’s worthy of it. The track is chocked full of the mathy riffs that won them fans from their previous EPs, with a particularly fun doubling-timing pulse to open the track, first from guitarist Chris Ignacio-Blanco which is then quickly replicated by drummer Tim O’Brien. “Existential Love Song” is among the band’s catchiest tracks to date, with a particularly soaring chorus, while still making room for guitarists Weir and Ignacio-Blanco to shred to bits and get nice and noodly with it. Lead singer Justin Weir continues to get more confident on the microphone with every record the band drops and this very well might be his most ambitious and varied vocal performance to date. You’d never know this is the same singer who was singing sporadically and hiding his voice in the mix on 2018’s (Probably) Worth It. Justin’s tender singing carries the track here just as much as any other element of the song, getting both shouty and whisper soft when the track requires. “The track “Existential Love Song” is accompanied by a goofy and charming iPhone recorded music video of Justin walking around a lake and a beach with his pooches and significant other, with heavy filtering interspersed throughout. Most importantly the video features some great weiner dog footage, heres to hoping those good boys become even larger parts of the Celebration Guns universe going forward.
“Existential Love Song” is the first track off of Celebration Guns’ upcoming EP Midlife Vices which comes out through Really Rad Records on Dec 30th, now available for pre-order on BandCamp. They’re following up their well received Visiting Years EP from 2021, which was an accompanying piece to 2020’s On Aging Gracelessly EP, keeping their personal streak going of one kick-ass EP a year. Keep an ear out for Midlife Vices when it drops on New Years Eve Eve and for more from Celebration Guns in 2023!
