Saturdays At Your Place Bring Summer Emo Vibes And Feels With ‘These Things Happen’

Emo up and comers saturdays at your place have arrived with their second full-length record, in ‘these things happen’. This marks their first release since 2023’s ‘always cloudy’ EP. This record dives into a lot of the emo values and up and downs of life in your 20’s. It’s nostalgic, resonating, and a joy to listen to at the end of summer especially. 

The record starts off with a bit of an instrumental intro, titled “welcome”. It’s an acoustic intro backed up with piano that feels very 2000’s. It transitions into the next track perfectly, in “cross my heart”. It keeps the upbeat nature alive from that intro track, and it’s a very strong start to the album. There’s something so nostalgic in the feeling of this song, as it’s short and sweet…but also the lyrics feel very inspired. They tap into the resonating part of the album I noted before, and it’s refreshing. 

We jump to the next track and the first single of the album, with “waste away”. The Midwest emo vibes are presented right off the bat, especially in the instrumentals. The bass, by bassist and vocalist Esden Stafne, really stand out nicely here. It’s just real sunny weather type of music, and feels right at home in between the summer and fall. The chorus and the outro feel very anthemic as well, so it makes sense why they wanted this to be the lead single. 

We follow up with another one of the singles, with “what am I supposed to do?”. The acoustic guitar mixed with the clean guitar to back it up is a pretty inspired choice to have throughout this song. It gives me a lot of Origami Angel vibes, in the upbeat nature and impressive instrumentals. It’s just a pleasant sounding track overall, and the end goes pretty crazy. I can see this one going over really well in a live set. A lyric that stood out to me also was “I only read about feeling bad, I only write when I’m feeling mad”. 

We follow up with maybe the most well-constructed song on here, with “forest bubbles”. The acoustic guitar at the start feels very folk, which I really dig. The melodies really hit that sweet spot on this one, and I love the keys in the background being ever so present throughout the song. The different “I’m fine” lines delivered really hit hard for me as well. I also love the switch up in the middle of the track, really keeps you on your toes. This is just a super impressively designed track within the emo space, and bands could learn a thing or two from these guys.

The vibe of the last track continues in one of my favorites on here, with “i’d rather be in michigan”. It’s just my kind of emo song from start to finish. The guitar parts by guitarist Mitch Gulish really shine on this one, and it’s once again impressive. It really gives me the vibes of Weezer at times, in the best way. And I love another switch up as it nears the end of the song, where it gets pop-punk all of a sudden. 

We slow the reduced down a little bit with another short and sweet track, with “strawberry”. The vibes also feel upbeat on this one, but in a more chill sense. The lyrics are as sweet as the song title itself, and it’s just nice to have a song like this in the middle of the record. It’s a nice breather before jumping back into energetic territory again, and makes for great variety here. 

That being said, we amp the energy and upbeat nature back up with “stay”. This one has more of the classic vibes and what I feel like fans would expect to hear from this band. And I do think this one’s also bound to be a fan favorite from the lyrics alone. One lyric that stood out to me was “you lied to me when you said I’m getting better”. The honest nature of these lyrics feels very genuine and it comes through in spades. 

We follow up with what I’d call a quality type of emo track, with “loon mobile pt 3”. It’s got some huge 2010’s emo vibes and the drums by drummer Gabe Wood really come through great on this one. It makes for one of the best songs on here, and the lyrics deliver once again on the sincerity. “I never meant that much to you” is a lyric you’ve probably heard a thousand times, but it hits every time and especially in this context.

We reach the end of the record with easily the most emotional track on here, with “i give in”. The lyrics, the delivery of them, and the vibe really make this feel like a true and worthy closer to a record. I just love how laid back and grand this all feels simultaneously as the song progresses. It all feels inspired by 1990’s and the 2000’s emo bands when it comes to the sound overall. The vocals by Gabe really are top notch and delivered perfectly, with both ease and raw nature in them. It truly does hit like a truck when it comes in at full force, and I love the keys at the end to outro this song and album.

All in all, ‘these things happen’ makes for a very solid emo record to stand tall with its peers that have also dropped an album in 2025. I think saturdays at your place have a very bright future ahead of them, and I think this record will resonate with a lot of people within the genre immensely.