In one way, it’s a simple and modest collection of nine fuzzy guitar-led pop songs. The title, a play on the iconic scene from Network (written by Paddy Chayefsky), can be clocked as nothing more than that at first glance, playful. But like the music behind it, Reagan thinks you can sit with the title as long as you want. It is meant to be a reflection of how sadness is a primary emotion that—when left unprocessed, unaddressed, and suppressed—manifests as anger. The sentiment is real according to the source: “sadness and grief are part of the human experience and they are hard,” says Reagan, “but the gift is the opportunity to process these things through art and community, to find a way through to find joy.”

Some background on Paper Castles: 2011’s Bleating Heart had Reagan unpacking Bill Callahan and Jeff Tweedy’s respective songbooks, while 2013’s Vague Era had Reagan making sense of Pavement and Deerhunter’s respective sonics. Those poles were channelled into the DMZ of 2018’s Acceptionalism while upping the recording fidelity thanks to Ryan Power and Urian Hackney (Rough Francis, The Armed) behind the decks. Reagan also solidified the Paper Castles lineup in the years following Acceptionalism, the project still firmly bolstered by drummer Brennan Mangan, guitarist Wren Kitz (a Sophomore Lounge and NNA Tapes recording artist), and bassist Emily Tompkins. Throughout its existence, PC has warmed Vermont stages for literally every single artist touring through, including Big Thief, Sheer Mag, Explosions in the Sky, Chris Cohen, Frankie Cosmos, William Tyler, Protomartyr, Pile, and The Wallflowers to name just a few.

I'm Sad as Hell and I'm Not Going to Fake It Anymore was tracked by Benny Yurco (Michael Nau, Lily Seabird, Robber Robber) in a little over eight hours across two days, a testament to the quartet’s perfection of these songs on those stages, and to Yurco’s comfortable Little Jamaica Recordings in Burlington. Tompkins and Mangan lock into a wonderful foundation for Kitz’s lolling guitar lines on “Clean + Organized,” while on “Avalon,” the band sings harmony for the most ironic line in the waltz (“We don’t really want company”) before their instruments explode into technicolor. “Lying Here” showcases PC deftly navigating washed out verses and tight knit, twangy choruses, all in a tidy, under-three minute package.

Lyrically, Reagan is at his finest: playful and poignant, biting and beautiful. Double entendres and clever wordplay abound—a line like “it's not the ideals but the high heels that’ll make you a man” from “Modern Myth” will make you wish John Prine was still around to hear it. On “Name Changer,” when Reagan sings “I’ll never change my name again / Got a real good handle and I don’t want to give it in,” what kind of “handle” is he referring to? I’d like to think Elvis Costello would smile at most lines in the Attractions rave-up “Content Creator,” but especially this verse:

“Here’s a new joint, set the price point / And tell the kids about what ain’t and what is / Hallelujah, it’s a new year, but you’re still not on the list / That’s how they screw ya / try again in 2026.”

Back to my original point: that outsiders-looking-in snark you hear in “Content Creator” is a perfect example of how this record is about that sadness manifesting as anger, of being sad as hell. It bubbles up in the question and answer reflection on past selves in “Young in a Hurry”:

“How’s your kid brother? / Is he still in the corps? Still kind of a jerk? / Your sister? Your mother? / Heard you had a kid, hey how’s that work?”

“It’s automatic, we don’t have to think about it / Cos it’s all we know / And it pulls us down like the undertow.”

There is sadness there, and scattered throughout I’m Sad as Hell and I’m Not Going to Fake It Anymore. We’re still the people we are, but different, and the same, and coming to peace with the sameness, and changingness of being a person, can be hard and thus rewarding. Reagan knows that if you want to get there, you can’t fake it. Some more lyrics from “Avalon” to drive the point home: “It doesn’t have to be that easy / It’s gonna pass / And when it does / You’ll find out yourself it’s enough, yeah.”

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