Side one, or Mourning Song, begins by inviting all ears to an adventure in the woods on an autumn afternoon. The band does a wonderful job setting the scene for imagination to flow. It also embraces a theme that encompasses situations, feelings and words that most people have related to at some point in life — hasn’t everyone been “driving at 3 a.m. to sleep on a couch”? I appreciate the lyrics that finish off the piece and continue into Morning Song, both sides full of words with truthful intentions.
Something about the second track reminds me a little too much of painfully and dramatically coming out of a junior high heartbreak. Perhaps it is the heavy piano keys, the occasional staccato power chords, or the vocalist’s wails. There is a beautiful surge of emotion found in the instrumental crescendo that —amidst my dislike of the song’s feel — still allows me to empathize with its humble offering of honest lyrics.
We Are The City’s lyrical candor and invitation to re-experience the familiar has done them well. They have wisely paired minor chords with relatively few words, allowing the listener to embark on their own journey of the mind. I, for one, am up for the journey.