7/17/11

Today was a wonderful day. And I got home and listened to all kinds of wonderful music. And this song kind of closed it for me in some way. A good, sad way.

"I went down to the gas station
for no particular reason
Heard the screams from the high school
It's football season

Empty lot the station faces
Will probably be there forever
I climbed over the four foot fence
I was trying to sever the tether

Moon in the sky
Cold as a stone
Spend each night in your arms
Always wake up alone

I lay down in the weeds
It was a real cold night
I was happy 'til the overnight attendant
Switched on the floodlight

Walking home I was talking to you under my breath
Saying things I would never say directly
I heard a siren on the highway up ahead
Kinda wished they'd come and get me

Frost on the sidewalk
White as a bone
Tried to get close to you again
Always wake up alone

And as I was crossing our doorstep
I hesitated just a moment there
Remembered the day we moved in to our small house
'til the vision got too vivid to bear

You were almost asleep
Halfway undressed
I lay right down next to you
held your head against my chest

And a guy with any kind of courage
would maybe stop to think the matter through
Maybe hold you still and raise the question
Instead of blindly holding onto you

But we crank up the heat
And you giggle and moan
Spend all night in the company of ghosts
Aways wake up alone"
~Moon over Goldsboro
The Mountain Goats, Get Lonely



Strings are damn gorgeous. Sparing. Long, story ballad-like structure. I am a fan.

7/16/11

This is a good one:

7/15/11

Have I really never posted this song?

7/10/11

This song feels so damn good. I'm still getting used to the album, the first two tracks and the last are my favorites so far and a couple others, like "Siren" are good. I still really enjoy "Reach for the Sun."

EDIT: After a few more listens, I feel this will grow equal in time.

But the structure of "War Paint," the song, is really well done. The opening chords are great and loud and majestic and full and they hit with you a great verse and chorus before bringing everything down and letting it all sink in. Some of that desperate fighting spirit stuff. It's a good time.

Lyrically, you don't hear bands this honest too often. Which is a shame in some ways. But we don't live in hones times and it makes it twice as hard. So give me the metaphors of breathing and escape and suns and wars and something I can relate to, because it's evident that these songs are written with nothing but hearts and minds behind them.

This band does a great job at capturing frustration in suspension, and hope in resonance. I could see how someone could very easily underestimate them as another now-scene band (are we in a scene? is there still one? who is in it? I don't understand anything anymore) upon first listen. But I hear more patience and care in this band than just being loud. Cause when it comes down to it, you gotta think a song through, and it needs all those right little details/sounds/words, that make it just right.

"I was starting to shake
From the days I’ve been up
There’s a lot on my plate
And the ones I loved stopped answering
They left me to find my self
In my own hate
I work all alone with cynical taste
And the day I get out
Is the day I’ll be made
I was cut out of stone
And carved with a blade.
Head down with all of my hardships
There’s nothing too strong
That I can't face
Don’t stop ‘till you finally have it
It should be more like a habit
Come down
All the fighting’s over
I let you breathe your own air
I will set my arms down in a corner
When I turn around
You will tell me how you’re up now
From your dream of clovers
Said, 'not a thing will compare
To the sense you give me, and disorder
When you turn around
And i can’t breathe.'
There wasn’t a trace
Of the war letting up
And the days went on late
I struggled
And I fell to solid ground
It led me to my escape
Now here I am outside of your gate
I was hoping you could
Come down
All the fighting’s over
I let you breathe your own air
I will set my arms down in a corner
When I turn around
You will tell me how you’re up now
From your dream of clovers
Said, 'not a thing will compare
To the sense you give me, and disorder
When you turn around
And I can’t breathe.'
Well, I came to say sorry
I shouldn’t have left
But my bitterness got to me
Before you did
And now I’m laying in gardens
Where we start over again
I know that you got me
And this is it
Come down
All the fighting’s over
I let you breathe your own air
I will set my arms down in a corner
When I turn around
You will tell me how you’re up now
From your dream of clovers
Said, 'not a thing will compare
To the sense you give me, and disorder
When you turn around
And I can’t breathe.'"
~War Paint
The Dangerous Summer, War Paint

7/8/11

Dangerous Summer.War Paint. All day. Win.

"I don't want to hear it,
I've seen soul in every little feeling you fought,
and maybe it's enough to move us on from where we started off."
~Waves
The Dangerous Summer, War Paint