After a lack of new music, and the time to find it…

You know what? No, I’m not using that excuse. Life is busy at the moment, but we are the decisions we make. I’ve chosen to spend more time on the Get Your Melancholy On Facebook Page, which is more easily updated, and a more immediate reflection of my moods – but a shallower one.

Here, here is where I open my heart and my head when songs truly get to me. And today, one did.

I’ve posted about the Gaslight Anthem in November 2008, and lead singer Brian Fallon’s side project the Horrible Crows in Sepember of last year. The Gaslight Anthem is a band I love, but have dabbled in, as I’ve found their albums a little inconsistent – some great tracks, some not so great. Until this years “Handwritten”, their first big-label release, and while definitely a little more polished and radio-friendly at times (unsurprising, produced as it was by Brendan O’Brien, producer of the Fray, Bruce Springsettn, Pearl Jam, Train and more…), a powerful piece of work, consistent over most of it’s eleven tracks (or fourteen, if you bought the deluxe edition) – a number of which I see myself writing about here. But tonight, this night, there’s only one.

Earlier today, a friend of mine who loves the Gaslight Anthem more than me grew frustrated with my not having listened to “Handwritten” yet, depite it being released nearly a month ago (as I said, the decisions we make…) So, she sent me “National Anthem”, the final track. And after a couple of listens, I finally listened to the entire album. Now, hours later, I’ve listened to nothing else all day.

A slower-than-usual Gaslight Anthem track, “National Anthem”, like much of the Gaslight Anthem’s work, is like Bruce Springsteen fronting a slightly heavier version of the E Street Band (at times – at others, it is pretty much Bruce Springsteen fronting the E Street Band. And this isn’t a slight at the Gaslight Anthem – they wear their influences proudly).

But after not posting for a while, and with a collection of songs (genuinely!) that I still aim to post, why does “National Anthem” push its way to the front of the queue? Put simply, this quite basic song, with a plucked guitar and a slow building string section, Fallon’s pitch-perfect voice, and little else, cuts through me like a knife. For someone who has been reminiscing an awful lot on life lately, thinking about those decisions that make us more deeply than ever before…well…

I’ve been the one living with too many ghosts.

I’ve been the one screamed at.

I never will forget you my American love
And I’ll always remember you, wild as they come
And though if I saw you I’d pretend not to know
The place where you were in my heart is now closed
I already live with too many ghosts…

And I cant stand the weather, no I never liked the rain
We drink on the job then we go home early
And I remember she used to look so good in that dress
Now she just screams how I promised her more than this
Take it easy baby, it ain’t over yet

I never will forget you my American love
And I’ll always remember you, wild as they come
And though if I saw you I’d pretend not to know
The place where you were in my heart is now closed
I already live with too many ghosts

Now everybody lately is living up in space
Flying through transmissions on invisible airwaves
With everything discovered just waiting to be known
What’s left for God to teach from his thrown?
And who will forgive us when he’s gone?

So, take what you need now honey
And do what you like
Don’t worry about me Mama, I’m alright

And I cant stand the weather, no I never liked the rain
We drink on the job then we go home early
And I remember she used to look so good in that dress
Now she just screams how I promised her more than this
Take it easy baby, it ain’t over yet

So, take what you need now honey
And do what you like
Don’t worry about me Mama, I’m alright

And if there’s something you need
And if there’s something you find
Whatever gets you through the night
Whatever gets you through the night

I never will forget you my American love
And I’ll always remember you wild as they do come

The Gaslight Anthem – National Anthem

www: The Gaslight Anthem’s official website, Facebook Page, Twitter, and MySpace.

Two posts in two weeks? Well, holy shit, I spoil you people…

If you don’t already know, I run a slightly-more-often updated Facebook Page for Get Your Melancholy On. Of course, you all already like it, don’t you?

One of the great things about that Page is that the people who like it also post music they like – and I’ve been shown a range of gems I’ve never heard of before through this. I’m working my way through them, and they’ll appear here in time, but one of the artists, and a particular song, just screamed at me.

Not literally. That’d be weird.

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, or Colin MacLeod as he’s known to his friends, is 27 years old, from the Isle of Lewis, off the coast of Scotland, and to be frank, sounds like Snow Patrol.

However, this is definitely not a bad thing – off his 2010 album “Fireplace”, I give you “Copper Down” – a beautiful, sad piece of work.

Starting with a simple plucked guitar, MacLeod’s Gary Lightbody-esque voice flows. Over the course of almost 4 and a half minutes, instruments layer and layer, and the song becomes more anthemic, with the drum tattoo and choral work at 2:54 of particular note.

The lyrics themselves are simple, but damningly effective – a tale of endings and of regret, with a set of slightly differing choruses which might just find their way under your skin.

In life, in love, there’s been a few times I’ve tasted copper in my mouth.

I hope it’s all worth it, in the end.

This ship’s gone and run its course
Through a tired lack of force
And all that matters branded on your arm
So you don’t forget how we first met

Suddenly I have this feeling
Tasting copper in my mouth
I look to watch the clouds for my last breath

When you grow into your skin
I’ll be the hope joining the walls
And all the scraps of world joined at the hand
Are there to hold you in our secret plans

Suddenly I have this feeling
Tasting copper in my mouth
I look to watch the clouds for comfort
Fill in the blanks

Suddenly I hate this feeling
Tasting copper in my mouth
I look to watch the clouds for comfort
I hope I don’t let anyone die
Fill in the blanks

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun – Copper Down

www: The Boy’s Facebook Page, Twitter, and MySpace.

Over a month since my last post? Sorry, sorry… Life, as ever, has been getting in the way… And when I finally sat down to think about what I’d put up here, in front of you all, I blanked.

It wasn’t for lack of choice – oh, no. Not at all. But after the last couple of very intimate, important (to me) posts, I didn’t want to put something throwaway up – I wanted it to mean as much as the others.

And so, it does – but it is the antithesis of my second last post. That was about falling in love – this is about falling back out of it; torn to shreds and bleeding; screaming and crying and hating the other all the way.

“Radio”, from Alkaline Trio’s 2003 album “Maybe I’ll Catch Fire”, is pure acid – starting as a simple electric guitar solo that edges its way under your skin, it starts to layer – a drumbeat; Matt Skiba’s voice in baritone; and those first few lines that would tear a strip from anyone…

Shaking like a dog shittin’ razorblades
Waking up next to nothing
After dreaming of you and me
I’m waking up all alone, waking up so relieved

And then… And then… And then…

2 minutes and 6 seconds in, the electric guitar kicks in, Skiba’s voice kicks up a gear, and the next few lines tear much larger strips…

I’ve got a big fat fuckin’ bone to pick with you my darling
In case you haven’t heard I’m sick and tired of trying
I wish you would take my radio to bathe with you,
Plugged in and ready to fall

And over the next 90 seconds or so, Skiba’s voice climbs ever higher, becomes ever more frantic and hurt and angry and hateful, and the music builds, before lapsing back for the final 40 seconds, exhausted and resentful.

When Phil Spector created his famous “Wall of Sound” technique, I figure he didn’t intend it to be used to crash down on someone in the hope it’d hurt them.

Shaking like a dog shittin’ razorblades
Waking up next to nothing
After dreaming of you and me
I’m waking up all alone, waking up so relieved
While you’re taking your time with apologies
I’m making my plans for revenge
Red eyes on orange horizons
If Columbus was wrong I’d drive straight off the edge
I’d drive straight off the edge

Taking your own life with boredom
I’m taking my own life with wine
It helps you to rule out the sorrow
It helps me to empty my mind
Making the most of a bad time
I’m smoking the brains from my head
Leaving the coal calling the kettle black and orange and red
This kettle is seeing red

I’ve got a big fat fuckin’ bone to pick with you my darling
In case you haven’t heard I’m sick and tired of trying
I wish you would take my radio to bathe with you
Plugged in and ready to fall

Shaking like a dog shittin’ razorblades
waking up next to nothing after dreaming of you and me
I’m waking up all alone, waking up so relieved
while you’re taking your time with apologies
I’m planning out my revenge
Red eyes on orange horizons
If Columbus was wrong I’d drive straight off the edge
I’m seeing red

I’ve got a big fat fuckin’ bone to pick with you my darling
In case you haven’t heard I’m sick and tired of trying
I wish you would take my radio to bathe with you,
Plugged in and ready to fall

Plugged in and ready to fall
Plugged in and ready to fall
Plugged in and ready to fall

Alkaline Trio – Radio

www: Alkaline Trio’s official website, Facebook Page, Twitter, and MySpace.

Reminiscing: Indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately. I try not to – the hamsters can’t power the wheel in my head for too extended a period of time these days – but as I grow older, I find myself thinking about the past, the present and the future more than I used to.

I wonder what lies ahead. I try to be present in my everyday life. And I look back on the last decade or so, at the curving path – at times doubling back on itself – that’s delivered me to this point.

In that decade, there’s been regrets. Not many – I know every decision I’ve made has led me to today – but a few “what if” moments. When I think about those, I usually ask Howie Day to accompany me…

Well, I don’t ask him. That’d be a little bit weird. But I put on “Ghost”, from his 2000 album “Australia”, and I play it loud, and on repeat.

There’s a core set of songs – 20 or so – which have followed me through the last decade or so. I haven’t put many of them on here – in time, maybe I will – as they are truly part of me. They are not the most complex songs in the world – often quite the opposite. But at some stage, something happened to me, and these songs were there; they slipped under my skin, but with their points still there; when I hear one, I genuinely slip away from the world around me – the people, the places – and drift back to the moments these songs slipped inside.

“Ghost” is one of those songs. A strummed guitar, a little slide guitar, a repetitive drum track, a husky male vocal that on occasion rises a little higher, and a song of regretting and craving; of wanting and not wanting.

If you’ll excuse me, I’ll slip away for a little while.

Lately I’ve been thinking
Lately I’ve been dreaming with you
I’m so resistant to this type of thinking
Oh, now it’s shining through
I was alone for the last time
Before my night’s vacation with you
Alive from the first
Now I’m denied by the ghost of you

Oh, you take yourself a photograph and laugh at me
Please

I know there’s little use in crying
It’s more wide awake and dying than I’m used to
I thought we’d walk these streets together
Now I’m hoping that I’ll never have to meet you
Step aside from all this anger
And somewhere in between I can feel you
Ask me should we try again
I’m thinking no
Y’know, it’s not what I believe in
It’s not what I believe in

You take yourself a photograph and laugh at me
Please
You make yourself a photograph and laugh at me
Please

No I, wanna taste you, love
No I…no I
No I, just wanna taste you, love

Standing in your shoes
I turn and now
You’re standing bare in my doorway
I only wish that I had been prepared
I’m gonna have to go along with your way
Just take the plastic camera out
It’s the pants you borrowed in the driveway
Alive from the first
Now I’m denied by the ghost of you

Make yourself a photograph and laugh at me
Please
You make yourself a photograph and laugh at me
Please

No I, wanna taste of love
No I…

I was alive from the first
Now I’m denied by the ghost of you

Howie Day – Ghost

www: Howie’s official website, Facebook Page, Twitter, and MySpace.