CW: Discussion of child abuse, murder, suicide, mental illness
Remiss is shot through with pain.
I know that’s not exactly the kind of statement one should make in their opening argument that you should, in fact, listen to a record, but it’s also something that is just fucking true on the face of things, and it’s compounded when you find out a) what the album is about and b) what happened to the band’s singer/guitarist. So before I talk about any of that, let’s stick with Remiss’s sound for a second.
What we have here are 12 tracks of heavy, midtempo melodic hardcore that frequently tip over into what I can best describe as midwestern emo, even though Mouth Washington hails from Portland, ME. Complex lyrics that focus more on telling a story than strictly speaking ”singing a song” are spoken/shouted by Will Held and Max Hansen in a way I would describe as ”chilled-out Defeater” or ”more-gruff La Dispute.” Despite the subject matter, this is surprisingly easy listening, sonically speaking. Which is great, because that subject matter is anything but easy to listen to.
Remiss tells the true story of a Maine woman named Constance Fisher, who was institutionalized in 1954 for drowning her three children; after she was released and returned to her husband Carl in 1959, she had three more kids and reoffended in 1966, at which time she was recommitted until her suicide by drowning in 1973. The album puts us in Fisher’s shoes from the jump with songs like “Postpartum” and ”Constance.” The details are genuinely horrifying and tragic, and the album speaks honestly quite tastefully to the senselessness of the murders and the devastating consequences of the sheer lack of mental healthcare available then and now. And if that was all there was to say about this album, it would be enough.
As Remiss was in post-production in May 2021, singer/guitarist Will Held passed away suddenly. He was 33, and had joined Mouth Washington in 2017 on the band’s fourth album, Fourth Floor. His vocal tracks had already been recorded, and the album was released in November 2021 with a live show in Held’s memory.
Remiss is crucial listening, in my estimation. Even as it is shot through with pain both lyrically and in the context of its production, it is also a lovingly-crafted and beautiful bit of melodic hardcore that deserves our attention, and demands our empathy.