The Great American Novel – ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Online’

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Online – the third album from NYC’s own The Great American Novel – is a tight, hooky collection of towering power pop-punk jams that’s equal parts Pinkerton and Welcome Interstate Managers. It’s an album about the messiest moments and growing pains that play out in the twilight of young adulthood, when relationships get real, hairlines recede, and nothing is easy. 

First single “Grabbing a Slice” is an infectious, formidable entry in the “ex anthem” canon, complete with singing synths, and a deeply unhinged video directed by and starring Josh Flitter. “Stop Thinking About Sheena Peters” – a fictional character destined to join the ranks of Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny” and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie” – is a delicious slice of bubblegum punk, a harrowing examination of a just-ended relationship hidden in a catchy-as-hell trojan horse. “I lost you,” Montgomery sings, “now I’m so screwed.” 

Epic closer “This Will Not Be Our Year” is a hilarious, bleak epic – a song of self-affirmation (“no more bad jokes anymore, I only make good jokes now,” Montgomery sings) plagued by self-doubt and brutal self-digs (“I’m getting nostalgic again...for some of my previous depressions”). But it ends with a simple question, optimistic in spite of itself: “do you believe in love?”

Is Extremely Loud a sad album? Sure, but it’s also deeply funny.

Stream the new album and grab a tape here!