Jeff Rosenstock is a Long Island musician who started his music career with the Arrogant Sons of Bitches before moving to arguably his most well-known project, Bomb the Music Industry!, which broke up after ten years. Jeff went on to focus on his solo career, dropping the ska-punk of his previous projects for a style closer to pop-punk. His first studio project under his solo moniker was We Cool? in 2015, which was a fun, passionate, and quirky highlight of the year. A little more than a year later, he released WORRY., which I wish I liked it more. Jeff pushed himself as a songwriter, but I feel like he needs to do more than be quirky and fun to stay afloat in his genre. Now, the new year comes, and on the very first day, we get POST-. Despite having his shortest tracklist at only ten songs, this is his longest LP to date, reaching the 40-minute mark. This is because we have two epics here, one seven minutes long, the other reaching past eleven.
After a six-second introduction, the LP kicks off with the first epic, “USA,” a pointed critique of the current state of affairs in his home country with lyrics such as “I fought the law, but the law was cheating” (paying homage to the classic Crickets song) and “...he was dragged to the bottom of the lake by a couple of kids saying, ‘it’s a joke.’” This song starts off typical of Rosenstock, but breaks into an atmospheric synth section that caught me completely off-guard. He has used synth before, but not this wall of atmospheric beauty. After roughly a minute, he returns with a dreary, dreamy “We’re tired and bored” as the drums build up to a post-rock inspired climax, with vigorous chants of “We’re tired! We’re bored! Et tu, USA! Et tu, et tu, USA!” This is the songwriting I’ve been waiting for from Jeff Rosenstock. It still has the fun, quirky elements of his previous music, but now with exceptional, adventurous songwriting.
“Yr Throat,” which is about having anxiety (“I can’t find any way to relax,” “I can’t do anything of impact,” “What’s the point of having a voice when it’s stuck inside your throat?”) is more in the vein of his previous material, but with some progressive-rock elements borrowed from King Crimson and Yes that keep it fresh and exciting. There’s also a clear reference to the Access Hollywood tape (you know which) where we hear our sitting president bragging about sexually harassing women, backed with Jeff and company singing “If you’re a piece of shit, they don’t let you go.” I’ll let you interpret. “All of This Useless Energy” is a sort-of-ballad with a clipping acoustic guitar track around which the rest of the instruments get progressively noisier. This song also seems to deal with anxiety, as Jeff sings about how scared he is of abandoning what he loves, and how he can’t fool anyone when he says he’s trying his best, because he can’t be his best anything when he can’t sleep. He’s full of “useless” energy. The instrumental abrasiveness is a powerful underscore, and and the song stands out very clearly amongst the rest.
“Powerlessness” is instrumentally more upbeat, but sees Jeff continuing to question how can he solve anyone’s problems when he can’t solve his own. While this song isn’t quite as interesting as the previous tracks, it is fun, and the lyrics hit very close to home. “TV Stars” comes out the better song; lyrically, it’s timely and on-the-note with all these celebrities hinting at presidential runs in 2020. This is another “ballad,” with the synth taking focus as Jeff muses on how he gets away with things despite not being very good at them, followed by an eyebrow-raising comparison to people without political backgrounds running for president. “TV stars don’t care about who you are” is something we should all take into consideration.
“Melba” is about the shitty aftermath of anxiety, when Rosenstock want to start over, even though these issues will just follow him no matter where he goes. This track is another one that’s kind of just “fun,” but even these below-par songs sport incredible lyrics. “Beating My Head Against A Wall” may be the most relatable of the bunch, as it tackles the hopelessness of debating politics with an idiot. This song is roughly a minute and a half, but lyrics like “All I wanna see is peace, but I wanna fight you with every little bit of me” are just hilarious. It doesn’t offer much, but it does bring back some funny memories. This goes into track nine-out-of-ten, “9/10,” a gentler track about depression: Rosenstock clearly misses someone, and is a complete mess because of it. He doesn’t want to be the selfish, restless, and miserable person it makes him. But when he thinks about this person, he sings that it’s like he “almost” misses them--a sentiment that hits a little too close to home with me.
“Let Them Win” is the 11-minute epic, and it begins unexpectedly heavy, led by the bass as Jeff sings about how “they” can do many things, like kick you in the knees, criticize, and profit off lies. There’s no way the song isn’t about the way the GOP turns their debates into accusatory hate-fests, pointing the finger no matter where that finger has been. “They can make us feel afraid, and try to turn it into hate, oh yeah,” sings Rosenstock. “They can steal our slice for the hundredth time, judge us when we cry and never empathize with anyone but themselves.” His opinion of the GOP boils down to a word: selfishness. These are people who don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, and will do anything they can to destroy dissenters and protect their flatterers. The mission statement of the chorus, “we will never let them win again,” is punctuated with a powerful “fuck no,” and the song takes off. Around five minutes in, Jeff starts humming over an acoustic section before that wonderful, atmospheric synth returns to conclude this 40-minute beast of an LP.
This is a first for me: on the first day of the year, after three relatively solid LPs, Jeff Rosenstock strikes it out of the park with POST- and gives me my first contender for album of the year. Though political in nature, the lyrics are a little more substantial than “Fuck Donald Trump,” exploring the issues, new and pre-existing, that the Trump presidency has churned up. At the same time, we get a clearer picture of Rosenstock’s mental state and how he deals with his anxiety and depression, a valuable thing to learn in these anxious, depressing times. This will be a hard one to top.
After a six-second introduction, the LP kicks off with the first epic, “USA,” a pointed critique of the current state of affairs in his home country with lyrics such as “I fought the law, but the law was cheating” (paying homage to the classic Crickets song) and “...he was dragged to the bottom of the lake by a couple of kids saying, ‘it’s a joke.’” This song starts off typical of Rosenstock, but breaks into an atmospheric synth section that caught me completely off-guard. He has used synth before, but not this wall of atmospheric beauty. After roughly a minute, he returns with a dreary, dreamy “We’re tired and bored” as the drums build up to a post-rock inspired climax, with vigorous chants of “We’re tired! We’re bored! Et tu, USA! Et tu, et tu, USA!” This is the songwriting I’ve been waiting for from Jeff Rosenstock. It still has the fun, quirky elements of his previous music, but now with exceptional, adventurous songwriting.
“Yr Throat,” which is about having anxiety (“I can’t find any way to relax,” “I can’t do anything of impact,” “What’s the point of having a voice when it’s stuck inside your throat?”) is more in the vein of his previous material, but with some progressive-rock elements borrowed from King Crimson and Yes that keep it fresh and exciting. There’s also a clear reference to the Access Hollywood tape (you know which) where we hear our sitting president bragging about sexually harassing women, backed with Jeff and company singing “If you’re a piece of shit, they don’t let you go.” I’ll let you interpret. “All of This Useless Energy” is a sort-of-ballad with a clipping acoustic guitar track around which the rest of the instruments get progressively noisier. This song also seems to deal with anxiety, as Jeff sings about how scared he is of abandoning what he loves, and how he can’t fool anyone when he says he’s trying his best, because he can’t be his best anything when he can’t sleep. He’s full of “useless” energy. The instrumental abrasiveness is a powerful underscore, and and the song stands out very clearly amongst the rest.
“Powerlessness” is instrumentally more upbeat, but sees Jeff continuing to question how can he solve anyone’s problems when he can’t solve his own. While this song isn’t quite as interesting as the previous tracks, it is fun, and the lyrics hit very close to home. “TV Stars” comes out the better song; lyrically, it’s timely and on-the-note with all these celebrities hinting at presidential runs in 2020. This is another “ballad,” with the synth taking focus as Jeff muses on how he gets away with things despite not being very good at them, followed by an eyebrow-raising comparison to people without political backgrounds running for president. “TV stars don’t care about who you are” is something we should all take into consideration.
“Melba” is about the shitty aftermath of anxiety, when Rosenstock want to start over, even though these issues will just follow him no matter where he goes. This track is another one that’s kind of just “fun,” but even these below-par songs sport incredible lyrics. “Beating My Head Against A Wall” may be the most relatable of the bunch, as it tackles the hopelessness of debating politics with an idiot. This song is roughly a minute and a half, but lyrics like “All I wanna see is peace, but I wanna fight you with every little bit of me” are just hilarious. It doesn’t offer much, but it does bring back some funny memories. This goes into track nine-out-of-ten, “9/10,” a gentler track about depression: Rosenstock clearly misses someone, and is a complete mess because of it. He doesn’t want to be the selfish, restless, and miserable person it makes him. But when he thinks about this person, he sings that it’s like he “almost” misses them--a sentiment that hits a little too close to home with me.
“Let Them Win” is the 11-minute epic, and it begins unexpectedly heavy, led by the bass as Jeff sings about how “they” can do many things, like kick you in the knees, criticize, and profit off lies. There’s no way the song isn’t about the way the GOP turns their debates into accusatory hate-fests, pointing the finger no matter where that finger has been. “They can make us feel afraid, and try to turn it into hate, oh yeah,” sings Rosenstock. “They can steal our slice for the hundredth time, judge us when we cry and never empathize with anyone but themselves.” His opinion of the GOP boils down to a word: selfishness. These are people who don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, and will do anything they can to destroy dissenters and protect their flatterers. The mission statement of the chorus, “we will never let them win again,” is punctuated with a powerful “fuck no,” and the song takes off. Around five minutes in, Jeff starts humming over an acoustic section before that wonderful, atmospheric synth returns to conclude this 40-minute beast of an LP.
This is a first for me: on the first day of the year, after three relatively solid LPs, Jeff Rosenstock strikes it out of the park with POST- and gives me my first contender for album of the year. Though political in nature, the lyrics are a little more substantial than “Fuck Donald Trump,” exploring the issues, new and pre-existing, that the Trump presidency has churned up. At the same time, we get a clearer picture of Rosenstock’s mental state and how he deals with his anxiety and depression, a valuable thing to learn in these anxious, depressing times. This will be a hard one to top.
- Alex Brown
Archival details
- Original URL
- https://metallifestyle.weebly.com/metal-lifestyle/review-jeff-rosenstock-post
- Recovery source
- live-weebly
- Recovery date
- 2026-07-22
- Stewardship polish
- 2026-07-22
- Preservation status
- restored
- Missing assets
- None recorded
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