On May 24, the award-winning duo Twenty One Pilots, consisting of vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun, released their seventh studio album, Clancy. The album features 13 songs and lasts about 47 minutes. Clancy features themes of midlife growth and mental health roadblocks that writer Tyler Joseph has dealt with throughout his life.

The duo has set the stage in a fictional world called DEMA in previous albums. DEMA is a town that represents mental health struggles and is governed by nine oppressive rulers known as bishops, with the main character Blurryface (a representation of lead vocalist Joseph’s insecurities) taking the role of the head bishop. Previous albums Blurryface and Trench delve into this narrative, with DEMA symbolizing the cycle of mental illness and depression. In music videos for songs like “Stressed Out,” Tyler depicts Blurryface with black paint on his face, and his hand as a powerful demonstration of the grip of his insecurities. 

The new album’s title, Clancy relates to a character in the story who fights against DEMA’s control, symbolizing hope. The story deepens with the short song “I am Clancy,” a pre-album single that connected previous music videos and the characters’ journey, making way for the release of the Clancy album. Clancy aims to resolve the main narrative, with protagonist Clancy now harboring powers similar to the bishop’s, showing potential for overcoming both internal and external struggles. 

“This song ‘Overcompensate,’ being the first track on the record, it’s gonna be the first song we play live when we start touring. There’s a bit of confidence and a bit of a swagger in it that the character really needed to embody in order to take on the new role that the story we’ve been telling and Clancy’s like going to rise up as that person,”  Joseph said in an interview with BBC.

The second song, “Next Semester,” is a summer anthem. Strumming guitar and fast-paced drums blast, accompanying Joseph’s heartfelt vocals. Towards the song’s end, slower and more melancholy background music plays as it transitions into the next song, “Backslide.”

“Backslide” sounds rambunctious, and random, with unpredictable notes hitting all over the place and loud bass banging. Joseph expresses his daily problems, and the song fades into a more organized beat with notes of synthetic keys at the end.

The album then transitions to the fourth song, “Midwest Indigo.” The song debuts with a futuristic synth beat then flows into an indie summer beat with overarching vocals from Joseph. Even though the song sounds optimistic, the lyrics tell a different story about isolation, and regret, depicting the mental struggles of returning home after starting college. The song’s beat has a warm resolve but the listener is left with a feeling of despair.

The sixth song, “Vignette,” starts with a melancholy violin and drum beat which then transitions into a more introspective yet heartbroken beat, with Tyler reminiscing about the challenges of addiction, written from the perspective of the story protagonist, Clancy. This is the first song in the album that focuses on Clancy.

The ninth song, “Navigating,” shows Joseph’s resolve with his mental health struggles, as well as how he navigates through his mind to find the different issues, like addiction and depression, to determine how to deal with them.

The final song in the album, “Paladin Strait,” has the most storytelling qualities. It focuses on Clancy as he prepares to escape the fictional city of DEMA. However, at the last second, he meets Blurryface. This symbolizes the idea that even if you think you can beat it, depression may return at any time.

Overall, Clancy is of average quality. The songs that truly stood out in the album were “Navigating” and “Overcompensating.” Despite the significance of the messages about mental health, the average listener could struggle to detect those themes over the music production. Some tracks served as “filler” songs, not adding anything to the album, and some were overly disorganized and all over the place. For these reasons, Clancy deserves two and a half out of five feathers.