This was almost a
concert review. Dave Hause (rhymes with pause) played at Music Millennium
Saturday, and I really wanted to go. However, that was the day we were taking
Mom to the Evergreen Aviation Museum, and even then it
could have worked out, but Maria had training so we couldn't leave until she
got back. It was a good trip, and good that I was there. Family.
However, this is
totally appropriate. I only learned that there even was a Dave Hause recently,
and that was all from tweets by members of Alkaline Trio and The Gaslight
Anthem, especially about the release of Devour. The first time I heard
of Gaslight Anthem was the day of their sold out show, and with Alkaline Trio I
think it was actually two weeks before their show, but that didn't help.
Apparently this is the group of bands that requires more than one try, and they
all know each other. One great show has been seen, so I believe that the others
will work out. My next chance for Dave Hause is in February.
I thought about
waiting until then to write about him, but the music had gotten under my skin,
and I need to do it now. Let it be a sign of my hope for the future.
And that's ironic,
because on the first listen there's not a great deal of hope in the lyrics. The
first impression is one of disappointment, and mourning for all that has not
come through. That's not to say that the music is disappointing - the music
sounds great - but it sounds like it was built on the pain of everything wrong with
the world.
Well, maybe it is only
some of the things wrong with the world. Recurring themes are the legacy we
carry from our parents, with the specific phrase "my father's son",
and the assurances that we were given of bright futures, that were lies. Both
come together on "The Great Depression" which is powerful and
poignant.
I should specify
that I spent more time listening to Devour; it was not all I listened
to, but that's more where my head is. Listening to it took me back to Thomas
Frank's book What's The Matter With Kansas. One thing that struck me
about it at the time is that he mentioned all of his friends' fathers being big
positive thinking men, and also all staunchly conservative.
I didn't understand
that until later, but that adherence to the power of positive thinking does two
things to you. One is that it allows you to have these great optimistic visions
of how great things are going to be, and you can make it happen. "Eat your
vitamins and say your prayers." Then, when it doesn't happen, the problem
was clearly you. "Welcome to the great depression."
There is a lot of
imagery of what has gone wrong, and an inevitability to the wrongness, and yet,
it is not completely hopeless. It couldn't be, and have music that good.
"We don't stutter when we sing." And you can move on, like in
"Bricks", and actually there is a progression to the album where it
becomes progressively hopeful.
It literally ends
in "Benediction", where despite referring back to the "damned
from the start" of "We Could Be Kings", still proclaims that
"It's love my friend in the end that can save us tonight...Are you
in?"
Initially I had
remembered "Damascus" as being
closer to the end, but it is actually the first track. "Take the scales
off my eyes I'm trying to see." Maybe that is a necessary first step to
the journey where you take a hard look at what is, and then you move on to what
can be.
So I know this has
jumped all over the place, and I have thrown in a lot of extra things, but that
is kind of my point. There is a lot to this music. There is a lot to think
about after you have listened, and then a lot to listen to again. There is a
lot to connect to.
Just as an aside, I
also like that the tracks on Resolutions were released in twos, with
B-sides, and I like the simple design and the colors of the covers. That
appears to have only been in vinyl, but it still means more songs.
There are links for
purchasing through the main site, but music is also available through the usual
suspects like Amazon, and I bet it's at Music Millennium.
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