I first
encountered this album via the means of hearing the hit single “Sometime Around Midnight” on the radio in the spring of 2009. I am happy to say that the album
basically carried me through that summer before college. I can remember in that
initial listening, the balance of angst and art intrigued me. I could sense intent
to balance both in an attempt of creating a defined listening experience. At
that time, it was one I could very much so identify with. Today, I listen to it to
identify with myself at the time.
The Airborne
Toxic Event are in a select group of artists who on the opening track of their
debut album, drop a F-bomb. I think it is wonderful. They do it in a song,
“Wishing Well” that has all the pop-alternative sensibilities to garner some
radio play while requiring a bleep. The album as a whole quite masterfully
occupies the space between simple and complicated. The same can be said for
between quiet and loud. You can sing along to the songs and feel like it is a
mix of The Beatles and the Ramones. This contrast coming together in harmony is
what Cobain strove for. The spring of 2009, a turning point for modern alternative, this
album came along at the right time.
Another binary I
associate with this album is innocence and experience. A song like “Gasoline”
captures this quite well. “We were only 17, we were holding in our screams.” At
the time, I was 17 turning 18. I enjoyed hearing the perspective of a 17-year
told trading some innocence for experience. It inspired me that I could and
should do the same. The sing makes it sound like so much fun. At the very
least, it was fun to sing along to. The
line “Oh my dear, I fear I can’t understand how” ranks right up there with
“baby better come back later next week, cause you see I’m on a losing streak.”
I loved the playfulness of the line “Your father would find my hand inside your
blouse.”
“Sometime Around Midnight” is the grand, sweeping emotional tour de force on the album that is
as much a ballad we can stand this side of Springsteen. Very similar to the
second half tracks on “A Rush of Blood to the Head”, I only hoped that I could
one day have a love to lose like the one the singer had lost and that I would feel
things so strong to create a chorus that epic and accessible. At the very
least, I could align the song and its sentiment with any crush I had ever carried. I also found it to
be very similar to Keane’s “You Don’t See Me” which was also released around
that time.
“Missy” is just
fun. It makes no apologies for a simple rhyme scheme and incorporating a passed
down prayer. I always enjoy the easily identifiable piano throughout it. It
is a song that I sometimes just play on its own. A quick burst of fun
during a drive on a familiar road or walk around a high school track. Very much
so a track for a mix cd.
Great summers
only happen once in your life. If you are like me, after a great summer,
an even better one can sometimes follow. That is what happened with the summer
after my first year at Stonehill. I had traded some innocence for an experience
and picked up some new albums to listen to. But I will always feel a strong
connection with Summer 2009 and this album that inspired me to embrace it all.
I knew that I could later recount my stories in the form of art that isn’t more
complicated than it needs to be while still containing some knowledge. Not a bad
mantra for the years to follow.
