Today's single is another one from the 86'd label/distro on the North shore of Long Island, this one is from Go White Bronco who look to be a sort of acoustic side project consisting of members of a few other bands...it's just the three though, with a whole lot of band names behind them.
This name must have something to do with OJ, right? His slow speed chase, and the glove made me think I was in for some hardcore speedblast. Instead, "Life as a Monument" is a surprise of intricate layered acoustic fingerpicking which gives in to some power strumming and a gruff kind of vocal. This sounds like it's going for that Dashboard Confessional super raw, emotional sound... you could probably go ahead and even call this emo. What started out as a John Fahey instrumental turned into a high register delivery about "meeting medicine" and rent checks.
The stuff of a hard rural life with no possibilities, just trying to make it through. The narrator's feeling pretty sorry for himself, with a nod to that Pedro the Lion's stripped down lonely sound. Stare off into space, and feel the pain.
It takes a particular kind of band to go after this sweet harmony and outward pouring of emotion. It's weird to think about this kind of approach to songwriting given the current climate of cutsey naif gibbard's popular style. This is coming from that kind of environment where all the promises are already broken. They don't have time to mourn the loss of childhood, that happened a long time ago.
The B-Side, "Danger is my Middle Name (Lullabye for a Bastard Child)" starts out with an equally new approach to the intricate guitar work, it's inherently intimate and complex, but with a raw, open room sound. Two voices this time, (one of them a kid) are singing in harmonies about the byproduct of one night...with a sickening smile of Sunny Day Real Estate, isn't everything great?
Extremely depressing in that all too realistic way.
Black vinyl housed in a plain paper, printed white sleeve from 86'd records.
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