Proper. – The Great American Album

Fresh off a mini-tour with The Wonder Years, Future Teens, and PRONOUN, the Brooklyn-based pop-punk/emo triad Proper. has announced a new album, The Great American Novel, to be released on March 25, 2022.

This forthcoming full-length release will be the band’s third studio album following 2017’s The Suburbs Have Ruined My Life and 2019’s I Spent the Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better and marks their first release since their recent signing with San Francisco, CA-based independent label, Father/Daughter Records. (The band additionally still remains signed to Oxford, UK-based label Big Scary Monsters, who will take charge of the upcoming album’s UK and EU distribution.)

The front and back covers of Proper.’s forthcoming third studio album, The Great American Novel.

The 15-track album has been teased since late 2021, when Proper. released the album’s lead single, “Red, White, & Blue.” Metaphorizing the relationship between the United States of America’s social, economic, and political elites and the nation’s everyday citizen as an abusive romantic relationship, “Red, White, & Blue” discusses the pain that the nation’s marginalized communities endure so that those in positions of power can remain there indefinitely, living in luxury while the commoner toils away on their behalf.

The Great American Novel has shown itself to tackle not only the ever-widening gap between the U.S.’s rich and the poor, but the album’s two other singles to date have focused on issues both personal to the band and more generalizable to their listeners. “Huerta,” the latest of Proper.’s singles from the forthcoming record, addresses the Mexican heritage of lead vocalist Erik Garlington and the simultaneous feelings of disconnect and romanticism that come from exploring one of the least known aspects of oneself.

Garlington’s lyrics juxtapose descriptions of his late grandfather’s alcoholism with fantasies of becoming a telenovela stunt actor, exploring both the depressing and the hopeful possibilities that were shut out when Garlington’s family cut ties to this piece of their heritage. “Milk & Honey,” meanwhile, details the fears of abandonment that can often bubble in one’s mind when starting a serious romantic relationship.

Produced by the critically acclaimed and genre-defying Bartees Strange, The Great American Novel is set to take a heavier turn from Proper.’s previous releases in both lyrical and instrumental tone.

Explaining the decision to take the band’s sound in such a direction, Garlington explained to record label Father/Daughter Records that the album “all goes back to Black genius and how it’s ingested by the predominantly cishet, white male crowd. If they’re going to be a voyeur to the Black experience, I wanted to strip away all the cheeky song titles, lyrical inside jokes, and optimistic singalongs. I want them to hear this record and learn about our identity crises, our aimlessness, how many friends and family we know that are dead or in jail by 25. How at eight we were told we were gifted but by 11 we were told we’re dangerous.”

The Great American Novel will also seemingly see a slate of new sounds from the band, with the album’s second single, “Milk & Honey,” featuring the trombone talents of JER (also known as the viral ska artist SkaTune Network) and vocals from New Jersey’s own indie-punk outfit Long Neck.

Judging from the reception of The Great American Novel’s lead and subsequent singles by media outlets such as Brooklyn Vegan, Left of the Dial, and Grande Rock, the latest effort from Proper. may well be the breakout release for the band in the U.S. punk and DIY scenes. We will certainly be tuning in on March 25th to hear the remainder of the album’s 12 tracks, and we recommend that readers do the same. 

Austin’s arbitrary rating: 13 stripes on the U.S. flag, as seen in the “Red, White, & Blue” official music video.

Standout track (so far): “Huerta”

Proper. is a DIY punk and emo band based out of Brooklyn, NY. Their forthcoming third studio album, The Great American Novel, will be released through Father/Daughter Records and Big Scary Monsters on March 25th, 2022. You can find Proper. on Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

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