keep that promise

Reconciled – The Call

I picked out this vinyl record a year or two ago, on one of those sweet nice days where I was wandering around picking out treats from shops just for the pleasure of it. I scooped it from the bin at Psychic Records, a record shop on 7th avenue in Park Slope, along with a few other albums that did not leave much of an impression on me. I was selecting albums based only off the covers, which I used to do much more often but have stopped doing now that the record shop prices are climbing and my apartment’s storage space can’t take any more unplanned additions. 

The purple of this album’s cover is what got me; the baby looking mystified in a doctor’s bag was fun and old-timey, but the seemingly nonsensical decision to make the whole thing a muted lavender is what stuck out to me. Monochromatic designs get me sometimes. This past week, after installing a new belt and needle in my apartment’s turntable, I picked it up and took it out of its sleeve, placed it on the platter and pressed “Start”.

“Reconciled” is a very successful album at being exactly what it is, which is a rock album made in the 1980’s. The opening song, “Everywhere I Go”, makes me want to cut your hair in a mullet. Double-time drums and bass accompany the most magnetic, one-word-at-a-time lyric delivery:

Raise

me

up

…

Keep

that 

promise that you made

Yes, he is saying nothing. Is he saying it perfectly? He is. What a lesson in lyric writing, but especially in singing! To sing something with such charisma that you don’t really need to be saying anything at all.

Hobby’s – Mietze Conte & Otto Benson

I like art that can take its fun seriously. I like artists that can take their fun seriously. I don’t really like comedy that doesn’t have some depth; I need my comedy to be a little, or maybe a lot, serious. I’m tempted to make this into a moral judgement of cheap jokes, but I don’t think I’d be right to do so. Cheap jokes deserve to exist, I just don’t want to have to perceive them.

(maybe an insecurity, but I’m realizing that I might just not be a fun person? like maybe it’s not good that my comedy needs to be so serious? idk.)

Anyway, I loved coming across this album. The cover is so silly but striking. I’d never heard of these artists before. The album is lighthearted as a whole, but there’s a depth to the grooves and a warmth in the choice of sounds that is very pleasing.

Here’s a link to Otto Benson’s (simple, ugly, effective) website, which has a short description of the motivation behind the project.

I’ve realized in the last few months that I am extremely drawn to albums where the singer is definitely singing lyrics, but the lyrics are pretty much indecipherable. Either they are mixed very low or with a lot of reverb, or they are singing some words and some nonsense, or they have found some other way to obscure their message. I love lyrics that are buried under a layer of dirt you can never wipe off. I think it has something to do with my inability to easily process lyrics that are sung “normally”. When the lyrics are unable to be processed, it feels like they’re offering a firm handshake to the part of my brain that normally allows lyrics to float through my head undeciphered.

So this album just ended up being a really great, low stakes listen for me. Floaty, fun, compelling. I’m really pleased to find some new artists (local, too!) whose work I love and respect. Oh, and it’s only 10 minutes long, really aligning with the current trend of micro-albums.

Putting this album in conversation with a few other albums I’ve listened to lately, all of which are not afraid to have some fun:

megacity1000 – 1tbsp

Sd-2 – Loukeman

HELLMAXXING – Chris Sunshine