Jaron's Journal

Back To May, 2010

May 27, 2010, 11:45 PM

Weekly Blog #5: Why I love the Jake Russell Band album "Turning To Dandelions": Part I

It's been a long time coming, both this review and this "weekly" post. But here it is all the same.

Part I: The first half of the lunar cycle

I love the Jake Russell Band album "Turning To Dandelions" because of its tight, interconnected musical themes; its folksy-experimental sound; and its introverted, desperate lyrics. "Turning To Dandelions" is about a man's existential journey as he tries to understand the world around him. Each song strikes in me in different ways, and I'm not sure if I've quite plumbed the depths of them. Irregardless, here are my thoughts on each song and how they are thematically and musically connected.

Track 1: aka the AKA (pt. 1 of 2)

The album begins with a soft tune that sets the light, folksy mood of much of the album. In this song we have a man struggling with addiction and hoping for healing. Yet the "healing is so far away."

Track 2: Pluto

This song bravely interrupts the song preceding it with a cacophonous crash of drums, paving the way for much of the experimental sound on the album. This song is pensive and moody. It speaks of death where life once existed; the death of something beautiful. Midway through the song, we get a choir that seems to mourn and cry out for what was lost.

Track 3: aka the AKA (pt. 2 of 2)

This song returns to the same structure found in part one, but this song ends on a more hopeful note. He's found that "feeling is a part of the process", the process of healing found in the first part I'd imagine. He's even got another singer backing him up, perhaps expressing that he doesn't have to go through this alone.

Track 4: Candide's Blue Period

The title of this track is a mish mash of "Candide: or Optimism," a book which, among other things, sarcastically portrays Leibnizian optimism; and "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period." The song borrows themes from both--an optimistic paradice, a world-view falling apart and the line "let's cultivate our garden" from "Candide;" and "tout le monde et une nonne" from "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period." The song mimics the sarcastic take on optimism by setting the lyrics against a peppy beach tune. To me it feels like the song is about finding beauty in a world that isn't necessarily the best that it can be.

Track 5: Tout le Monde et une Nonne

The title of this song is a line from the last song and a line from "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period." In this slow-moving, sombre song, full of emotion, we find an introverted man who feels unnoticed and alienated from someone they admire. The song ends with a thunderstorm, signifying the sad storm raging inside.

Track 6: Crescent Moon

This is the first of the "Moon" songs, a main theme running throughout the album that tracks the cycle of the moon. In this song we find a man who is going through the motions of everyday life, trying to distract himself from somebody he misses very acutely. As the lyrics end, the "Moon" guitar riff begins. This theme is repeated in other songs as the album progresses.

Track 7: Flower

This song explores the rejection of a woman and the shallow nature of the relationship the rejected man was seeking. In the background we can hear a rejection letter being read over the simple guitar and lyrics.

Track 8: Hadron Collider

This is my favorite song on the album. It's so short, but it says so much. In this song, we have a man hoping that science will provide him meaning and an answer to his existence. But time is running out. The man is addicted to cigarettes and has cancer. He knows his death is imminent, but he holds on in a kind of hopeful desperation. The close, distorted vocals really give us that sense that we are looking at life from this man's point of view. A peaceful, acoustic riff begins the song, but before long, an electric guitar interrupts what was once a peaceful song and begins to play it's own chaotic melody, signifying the introduction of the cancer. At the end of the song the electric guitar falls out of time and completely falls apart, drowning out the acoustic melody, signifying the death of the man.

Track 9: Gibbous Moon

This is the second "Moon" song and represents the next phase in the lunar cycle, the Gibbous Moon. It begins with the "Moon" guitar riff found at the end of "Crescent Moon." Then the beginning riff in "Crescent Moon" plays and a different melody is sung over it. The lyrics talk about somebody who is bound by some oppressive force. The song does a more hopeful about-face, and the second "Moon" riff (we'll call it "Moon 2") appears. The lyrics at this point speak about the moon being a "Gibbous Moon" and how the "cycle's almost complete." This musical shift seems to represent the halfway point of the album, and indeed, this is the 9th of the 18 tracks.

And that signifies the end of this review for now. Tune in next week as I finish my review of the wonderful album "Turning To Dandelions." The cycle's almost complete!