An aside: I attended a Say Hi show over the summer at Spaceland in LA. It was a great night that culminated in me writing that lead singer, Eric Elbogen, looked like an unattractive Dave Attel. I forget what I said exactly but about an hour later I had an email from Eric saying, effectively, "thanks for the words (signed) Poorman's Dave Attell." I fumbled something back about Dave Attell being cool and it being a flattering comparison, blah, blah, blah. No response. I am not so arrogant to think that the lead singer of a moderately successful indie rock band thought twice about me but, put simply in an English sentence:
Eric Elbogen from Say Hi hates me and I know it for sure.
More directly, his music has changed my life from time to time and I sense he might do it again. "Sweet Sweet Heart Killer" was a slice of pop that didn't leave my brain for weeks. "Let's Talk About Spaceships" sung to me, as it does when conversations should be about anything but spaceships but aren't. In 2007-08, "Northwestern Girls" defined my inability to be entirely honest but an ever growing desire to do so. Eric Elbogen wrote all these songs for/about me because he hates me and I know it for sure.
Latest single, "November Was White, December Was Grey" is a dreary piece of keyboard rock. It still hums and shines in the right places but this is, in the end, a period piece. It's the Pacific Northwest and winters that bleed like un-coagulated cuts. It's about hope, I suppose. But it's more about not hope. Or it's more about hoping to hope; the moments before optimism. The 5am drive that becomes morning traffic. The sunrise over the Long Island Expressway and the sense that this too will be never ending. Or maybe that's just me. Because, Eric Elbogen wrote this song for me and he hates me and I know it for sure.
Listen :: Say Hi - "November Was White, December Was Grey"
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