Philadelphia’s Carly Cosgrove reach an emotional climax on “The Impact of This Exit,” the penultimate song from their new album, ‘The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty.’

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Stream: “The Impact of this Exit” – Carly Cosgrove

Seeing the lost potential in someone can be the most heartbreaking thing imaginable. Sometimes drawing the line in the sand and cutting out someone who’s doing more harm than good can be hard, especially if it’s someone that you cared for. There’s clearly a lot of difficult conversations happening on Philadelphia punk band Carly Cosgrove’s song “The Impact of This Exit” from their new record The Cleanest of Houses are Empty.

The Cleanest of Houses are Empty - Carly Cosgrove — The Cleanest of Houses are Empty – Carly Cosgrove

Carly Cosgrove’s sophomore album weaves through various alternative styles, including pop-punk, indie rock, flourishes of math rock, and power pop, but “The Impact of This Exit” veers the most into emo territory. As the penultimate song on the album, it reaches something of the climax of the record, building into a massive callback to lead single “You Old Dog.” The arpeggiated guitar part, perfectly underscores the emotional conversation, giving a friend of a healthy dose of reality before vocalist Lucas Naylor belts out over the swelling choruses and bridge.

Naylor explained that he intended for “The Impact of This Exit” to be an “internal battle with my past and present self” in an interview with Brooklyn Vegan. The conversational aspect can certainly play through, but going in without that notion, it definitely sounds more external and an examining of a relationship that has run it’s course and no longer serves. It almost feels like a realization to ask someone to address their pessimism and realize that the anger is rubbing off on you.

I watched you, watch your dreams come true
Just to fall back asleep
Don’t you remember when
we didn’t mind the mess?
Did much more with so much less

In the chorus, Naylor sings, “I have never met a winner who hates to win as much as you do.” In a sense, it echoes Carly Cosgrove’s once tourmates The Wonder Years’ “Washington Square Park” chorus (“The whole world’s full of losers/If you get the chance to win, take it”). It’s the realization that sometimes people can’t draw an appreciation on the things that they have in front of them, no matter how good.

In the bridge, there’s a breakdown of all the wasted potential, yelping about how much it hurts to see someone “waste away in your voluntary coma,” before the vitriolic third verse. It’s an explosive take on the falling out conversation. It’s the telling someone that you can no longer stand to watch the way that they treat people, and it’s heartbreaking, but liberating. As he reaches the line, “Don’t you think for a second that you’re welcome here now.”

For the final chorus, it’s a resolve of self. The lines have changed to saying, “I don’t wanna be a winner who has to win in the way that you do.” The line has been drawn, and there’s some comfort in your own values, and the outro calling back to “You old dog” feels like a real sense of closure.

Throughout The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty, Carly Cosgrove show promise as one of the new torchbearers of pop-punk. As they’ve made a massive leap from 2022’s See You in Chemistry, the group really have come into their own, and “The Impact of This Exit” gives a peak at the ambition to come.

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