Whitmer Thomas - The Older I Get The Funnier I Was (LP) - Pink Translucent Vinyl

Whitmer Thomas has always walked that tricky line between jokes and gut punches, and this record lands right where those two meet. Released in October 2022 on Hardly Art, The Older I Get The Funnier I Was finds the Gulf Shores, Alabama comic turning the spotlight on the parts of growing up that never quite straighten out. It’s not a comedy album in disguise. It’s an indie pop and power pop record with real legs, built on chiming guitars, rubbery bass and a soft glow of synths that feel like they’ve been left out in the sun a bit. He still gets a laugh in the way a friend does when they tell you the truth at last call, but the songs carry you first.

“Rigamarole” was the entry point for a lot of people, and it makes sense. It’s the kind of song you play back to back because the hook sneaks up on you, then parks in your head. The jittery rhythm mirrors the way he writes about social static, those little spirals that turn an ordinary day into a mess of second guessing. “South Florida” tilts the camera toward the coastline and memory. Thomas has been open over the years about his family history and the pull of the Gulf, and you can hear it here as salt air, not melodrama. The guitars jangle and the chorus opens like a window. It’s tender without going soft.

What’s striking is how confidently he sidesteps the trap of novelty. Anyone who caught his 2020 HBO special The Golden One, or the companion music release, already knew he could write a song. This time the jokes sit in the pockets. He lets the melodies do the heavy lifting, and the lyrics feel lived in. There’s a lot of talk in music press about “relatability,” but Thomas doesn’t fish for it. He writes in specifics, which is why the small details hit. A bad party, a motel memory, a phone call you keep putting off. It all sits in the mix with a handmade ease.

Hardly Art has become a quiet home for artists who prefer craft to posture, and this album fits the catalogue. The production is clean but not antiseptic. Guitars have bell tones without getting glassy, and the rhythm parts sit warm and patient. Every now and then a drum machine pulse slides under a chorus and gives it a little neon. You can hear the LA sunshine but also the long shadow of the Southern coast. That tension suits him. He’s funny, sure, but the songs are carrying more weight now, and the record never buckles.

There’s been solid praise in the right places. Pitchfork and Stereogum both got behind it, not because Thomas is a comic with a guitar, but because he turned in a proper set of songs. If you’re the sort who files your shelves by feel, sit this next to sharp, melodic outsiders who learned to turn the volume down just enough to let the words cut through. Think late night headphones rather than festival roar.

On vinyl the sequencing really shines. Side A tumbles from nervy pop to big chorus moments, while Side B gives a bit more space to those wistful textures and late hour reflections. The Older I Get The Funnier I Was vinyl is easy to recommend if you want a modern indie record that rewards a front to back spin. Drop the needle and let the guitars shimmer in the room. It’s a good reminder that even small songs can fill a space when they’re built with care.

If you’re combing a Melbourne record store on a Saturday arvo, or looking to buy Whitmer Thomas records online with your next cart of vinyl records Australia, this one deserves a spot. Whitmer Thomas albums on vinyl feel like the right place for his work because you can lean into the warmth, the slight tape-like compression, the way a chorus blooms and then hangs in the quiet. There’s detail here to live with.

What sticks after a few plays is balance. He writes about grief and ageing and the dumb luck of friendship, but he refuses to flatten it into a tidy moral. The jokes come and go like real life does, and the melodies stay. That’s the move. Whitmer Thomas vinyl might be a search term, but it’s also a way to pin down an artist who keeps surprising us. This record proves the funnier he was, the better the songs got.