X Ambassadors, “Townie.”

On their new album, Townie, X Ambassadors reminisce on their childhood memories and life in upstate New York.

The fifth album by brothers Sam and Casey Harris consists of 12 tracks laced with smooth guitar lines and nostalgic lyrics about blue-collar youth. Self-produced with the band’s drummer, Adam Levin, the album is a window into their childhood lives as they take listeners on a curated journey of their home in Ithaca.

Following a jam-packed year of touring Europe, working with stars like Rihanna and Lizzo and writing songs for movies, the trio is back to its bread and butter, and Townie feels like a well-needed pause in the members’ hectic lives.

Fans who enjoyed radio hits “Unsteady” and “Renegades” from X Ambassadors’ debut album, VHS, will love Townie. It carries the same tense and personal sound that compels you to reflect back on the past and feel everything deeply.

Unlike 2021’s The Beautiful Liar, which had explosive bangers like “Adrenaline” and “My Own Monster,” Townie carries a completely different sound. It’s far less theatrical and has a softer, more methodical pace than its predecessor. It’s more personal and soul-stirring, and each song plays as well-detailed chapter.

Single “No Strings” is a vibing soft pop tune with crispy acoustics that explore being free and living dangerously. There’s a freeing and uplifting energy to the track that also translates to its video.

“We don’t care what anybody thinks of us/ Living dangerous/ Living reckless,” vocalist Sam Harris chants.

Townie is dedicated to Ithaca but even more so appreciates the beauty in everyday experiences, like breaking your nose at 14, as Harris sings about on “(first dam)” or spinning doughnuts on bikes in the park with your friends early in the morning on “Sunoco.”

“Your Town” is a heart-pulling emotional tribute to a childhood teacher and friend, who passed away in 2021. The accompanying video even includes the teacher, Todd Peterson, sharing hugs with the brothers. They revisit places their school halls and auditorium. It ends with a voicemail from him offering encouragement. Over mellow guitar strums and somber, yearning lyrics, the song is an emotional reminder to create more memories with loved ones.

There are lighter, upbeats tracks like “Rashad” and “Smoke on the Highway” which feel like past conversations between the band and its fans. As with most tracks on the album, their lyrics and arrangements aren’t complicated but personal. Some offer only soft piano playing or guitar strumming.

Ballad “Half-Life” is the most emotion-evoking song on the album. It celebrates lovers, family and friends, and for Sam Harris, it’s more specifically about how he’s spent half his life with his wife, whom he also met in Ithaca. With Harris singing and playing a reverb-laden piano, the song paints a picture of how it sometimes takes finding love to realize that life used to be incomplete.

Townie feels like the calm in the middle of a storm.

Follow Dumisani Mnisi at Twitter.com/nairobi_1899 and Instagram.com/nairobi_1899.