Wow.
I listen to a ton of new music. I get a ton of singer/songwriter, rock and roll submissions. Few are this good.
I’m going to start at the end, which is a beginning: “It begins fit as a fiddle/But by the end your body was bound so tightly it was little/A thousand things that you never should say/And a million ways to do it different, so as not to be caught in the middle/When it rains it pours, water makes you do things you should ignore.” This are the opening lines from the closing track to Feelin’ American, “What Comes After the Weekend.” And the song, which is on a part with my favorite regretting-the-morning-after-song of all time (Tom Petty’s “Rebel”), is perfect. Absolute perfection.
Okay, so it ends early morning, but how does the album begin. On Monday Morning, a bouncy, optimistic song about meeting a new girl who deserves the best: “Come home late last night, I turn the radio on/I heard you dancin’ around to my favorite song/I said it would be all right if I took you home tonight, away from these clowns, someplace nice/Hold on, Monday Morning.”
What happens between is life. Sleeping alone, running wild, moving through a relationship. This is a real album: It’s not a collection of great songs (well, it is, but it’s not JUST a collection of great songs).
This is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.
RIYL: The Libertines, Elvis Costello,
Here’s the link to his soundcloud page, where you can stream each song individually. I’ve posted a few below (my favorites):
