Photo by Uv Lucas

There’s a beauty in the details of FILM when you consider the band comes from two of last year’s contributors to the best emo, punk, and hardcore albums overall coming from very different eras of the emo scene, and who have now met somewhere in the middle of it all. In their own right, Ken Vasoli of emotive pop-punkers-turned-post-hardcore ruminators the Starting Line and guitarist Joe Reinhart of fourth wave Midwestern-styled heroes Algernon Cadwallader have proven their legacy’s worth even when time didn’t initially agree with it by continuing to refine their craft while outlasting trend in their elder emo statesmen statuses.

Still, the pairing alongside drummer TJ DuBlois (who passed away tragically in 2023) takes on a whole new definition on “Roundabout”, the leadoff preview from the band’s forthcoming album, Permanence. You hear a little bit from all corners — Vasoli’s grated singing intensely turning into a shout-along exorcism, Reinhart’s guitarwork spindling and driving upward in momentum to embrace that perpetual centripetal motion, and DuBlois hitting the punctation marks home every step of the way. “Part of one dream / Keeping it alive!,” exclaims Vasoli. Be it in memory or their collective calling, FILM getting stuck in the middle with each other is good thing.

FILM’s Permanence will be released May 22nd on Lauren Records.