Review of Shipsography

James Earl Jones · 28.09.2010, 23:59

Цитата:

Очень интересная и мелодичная эмо/скримо группа из Индианы, США. Распались в Мае 2009, но потом опять возобновились в Декабре. Во время распада некоторые из группы играли в Midwest Pen Pals. До распада они успели записать LOL Cats Demo, the Bummer Times Demo и I Want to Forget About Everything Bad That Ever Happened, Ever. Когда они начали играть снова, они собрали все из этих релизов в Shipsography. В общем, советую всем послушать, так как группа реально очень достойная.

Review of Shipsography

Merchant Ships will always be a gem lost in a sea of midwestern emo bands. Their angular melodies and sentimental screaming originate stylistically back to the various musical projects of the Kinsella brothers. Between both musical acts are a history of forgettable melodic janglings produced by countless bands who have garnered little attention, yet strike a chord locally. The first half of Merchant Ship's discography is a mere celebration of the genre, an essential component of the emo aesthetic. The nature of the genre admittedly delves little into innovation, however recalls a mutual utilization of specific tendencies(poppy melodies, off-kilter rhythms et al) and applies it to the more individual personalities and songwriting of various bands. This can be seen in Merchant Ships defining aspects of bare instrumentation, humorous song titles, child-like perspective, and a perfect blend of irony and emotion(see: The opening monologue to My Journey To The Weed Den). The songs are simple and rough, achieving what passion it can in two or three minutes. The first half ends on Long Term Relationships Were Only Cool When Divorce Wasn't, a moody piece detailing angst towards family struggles and a broken home, ending in a collective chant.

We stand on our own, looking for a place to call our home

The last six songs on the discography separate themselves from the first half, being written later in the band's career and being structurally enhanced. They feature a more dynamic sound and are a cathartic grouping of songs. While the melodies and sound are still the same, the band takes a nearly screamo-esque approach to their music. The songs switch from rockabilly pacing, to slower guitar breakdowns, to moments like the opening smorgasbord of guitars and vocals of Birthday that emote pure passion. The instrumentals reach an entirely more complex level of musicianship, unique guitar phrasings juxtaposed with a dynamic rhythm section covering more ground than often achieved by most hardcore bands. The vocalist retains his same bark, often channeling Loma Prieta's singer. Throughout the disc he vents out ridiculously moving lyrics, epitomized by the rough singing on Old Grey "remember the times we can’t have back, but fuck the past; soon we’ll be alright, we’ve made plans to hold up our heads high."

The discography works as an enjoyable progression, ultimately entailing everything from the quirks of the opening tracks all the way to the final epic "Dying", which features the most intense and brilliantly transitioned instrumental work heard in the past decade of "Kinsella rip-offs". Its lack of recognition allows it to be what it's best at; a rough packaging of personalized hardcore tunes, disconnected from any source but the listener.

[свернуть]

Lyrics

My journey to the weed den
It’s okay to hate me, I hate myself too. If I ran away I would only miss you.
But, if it means your happiness, if running’s what it takes, then I hope you see forever’s more than just mistakes.

We don’t need luck to make it
Last year was a better place, we thought we were brothers. This year though, is different, we’ve found we can’t trust one friend from another, one man from the next; we’re left with our shadows, we’re left with lies regret and hope, all of the things that build us up…that make us hurt. Dear god If you’re there please show yourself so we can breathe and know that we’re okay, that we are not just ‘friends we don’t know, friends that we miss, friends that will never grow up from kids.’
I wish I could take back all that I’ve said, I wish I could take back all that I've done but I know I can’t, what’s now’s not then, and there’s no point in having best friends. What we have will not come back, so we’re left with this: people that we think we love, it’s them we cannot trust. It’s them who will hurt us, them who will leave us searching and praying for things left in last year.

The first time I got fucked up was to the party song by blink 182
Sorries don’t fix our mistakes, they’re just words I need to say and just words you need to hear…more like words you need to hear: sorry that I left that month, sorry that I couldn’t talk when you called and needed me, sorry that I broke your heart. We have to fix this or else I won’t be able to let go.
Let’s run away? We’ll pretend this was all a bad dream, one where we’ll wake up and be just the same as the first day we said “I love you, I will never go away”. Because you left me too, don’t forget that, left me when I thought it was okay again, how wrong I was, my white flag’s in the wind. I need you, and you need me, let’s be friends and say sorry? Two years is too long to just throw away; us together is for the better I promise.
I fucking promise.

Coffee, Hot Showers, and Hangover Jams
Don’t lock the doors, dad might come home and we could be a family .We could pretend the last four years didn’t happen, that we’re happy. There’s just bullshit we must accept.
Nothing stays the same, we’re on our own we have to leave at fucking eighteen, we have to escape; remember good times or else drown and forget that we once were kids.
We don’t know what’s ahead, (but) it must be better than.
Hey if we get out then what comes next? I’m not you I cannot leave the kids, someone has to save their innocence. I wouldn’t wish this shit on anyone but you.
Fuck, it’s because of you that I’m this way, it’s your fault I say the same things, it’s your fault I don’t know god, it’s your fault that dad’s not home. Why can’t we just lock the doors?
They’re your kids you owe them a life, don’t fuck theirs like you did mine.

Long term relationships were only cool when divorce wasn’t
What's the point in listening when your words are filled with lies, a spoken sense of burning down your bridges and your ties. Phone calls laced with memories of what will never be, the judge's voice is cold and clear, "no more family"
Buried in a graveyard, next to my childhood, it's just a place I visit because "it'll do me good". When I grow up, I will thank you and Dad for this, but I won't pretend I forgive you when you say "sorry, kids"
What's the point in listening when your words are filled with lies, a spoken sense of burning down your bridges and your ties. Phone calls laced with memories of what will never be, the voice of Death is cold and clear, "no more family"
We'll be buried in a graveyard, next to my childhood, the eulogy suggests that we once said "we could." Life is not about us, for you and Dad at least, so don't expect forgiveness when you say "we're sorry"
(We stand on our own, looking for a place to call our home)

Things Left in Last Year
Let go of your bitterness and realize you are not alone, we all stare at vacant ceilings wishing we could just let go. We're all captains on a sinking ship, and the setting sun helps pass the time as we sing along to our demise.

Dying
I painted a picture of a blue sky, our family (the way we were, before we died) I hung it in your bedroom, so that you won't forget: we used to be so happy, you used to be a kid. Before mom took emma, before dad “went away”... It's sad to think we had that, but worse to know it's gone.
From me to you, with sincerity, I won't ever leave. But i'm tired, i'm weak from the smeared ink of it all.
Black skies, I paint our funeral; we died 'cuz long term ain't meant to be. Our house is painted new colors, move on, forget the blood inside. I'm tired and I can't feel my heart. I'm dead and I can't paint blue skies. I hope you can remember the way it all used to be, I hope you remember how much she loved you.
Because I can't.

Sentinel
I want to see the backs of your fucking eyes, crying, pleading “please stop hurting me.” But you're a lone, you are still a ghost and your nerves are worn thin, a smile shed like snake skin and you trust no one. Keep singing the same song, a hundred times, until you get the point across: We're broken.
But like a box inside a closet, you find nothing can just be “let go”. Anxious, bitter, your thoughts never changed, but you tell me that you aren't the same? We all see just how hard you've worked, but I don't buy it. You don't think the world changed for you, fucking, do you? Get your head out of your heart, the past haunts you until you die. Fear it, fear me. You will never escape.

Good Weekend
Hey! Let's leave home and go to New Jersey, six hundred miles away from our problems; let's be happy. Vomit from our fucking mouths, bile in our throats, let's not come back. Let's run away, I don't want to stay in this state another day, and when we're there we'll forget ourselves and tell our ghosts to go to hell. (It's what we do at this age that helps us earn our fucking name, and no matter what I promise you we'll never be the same.)
But now we're here, no more thinking. Late night friendships, mistakes are breeding.
It's no regrets, stranger's smiles, where are you? The sunsets, set.
I've found that nothing looks the same when you're in a dream, so don't look away because we might wake up. Let's leave home and never come back. Let's never wake up.

Something That Matters
I look around at all my friends, the "1-2-3-4-5 dead ends", the kids i'll never see again...the kids who mean the most to me. Staying up until the morning, in my kitchen swapping stories; memories I can't forget, no matter how the summer went.
We're here forever, and we'll die together.
If you plant a seed, it grows into a tree, and to us, to everyone, this never meant thing. I'm sorry Cameron, that she never meant a thing. This song's for you, wherever you might be, I pray that you stay golden and never come back home.
This song's for you, this song's for movin' on.
This song is for our friends who've been there all along.

If A Bear's Hungry (He Will Eat)

I sing inside jokes that aren’t funny, about my former friends and ex girlfriend, because I don’t know when to shut my mouth, and because everyone that I know is getting fucked up. They can’t come to my show because I’m an asshole and make fun of them for what they think is cool (all of the stupid shit I know I’ll never do).
I know I’m messed up, I know I miss you, Things aren’t the best right now. I hate everything, but I hate myself more, we’re all dead beat kids living dead end lives.
I’m sick of singing all about “the way everything turned out”, my mom, or my broken dad. Tell me, why am I always sad? I’m growing up all by myself, can’t pretend I’m someone else, who I am is what you get and what you see is a promise kept. “Fuck the past, my head’s held high”? That’s a bitter fucking lie.
Dear world, I’m still here. Fuck you and all my fears. I know who I am, I know who you aren’t.

Old Grey
We are about to set our sails for the new lands, where we only know what we bring, where we can breathe without harm; we escaped the smoke,and no we will not forgive you.
Don’t expect to get our phone calls, we heard you enough
already. Please don’t think we’ll forget you, but don’t think that we’ll miss
you; in time you will just be a ghost, one that we don’t even know. In time, you will just be nothing.
We will look back at the fire and remember what itwas, realizing why we’re leaving and rebuilding “providence”,
I love you, I loved you never, remember the times we can’t have back, but fuck the past; soon we’ll be alright, we’ve made plans to hold up our heads high.

Birthday
it's your birthday, 1-2-3-4, surprise! step through the door, you'll be alright, all of your friends are there to wish you a goodnight, a goodbye, a "thanks for the good times." or maybe that's just me?
i've been chasing shadows since we left chicago, every dead end says the same fucking thing: never look back, but i'm not for advice i don't understand, so i'll play ignorant until you miss me again.

Wordvomit
let go, the night is infinite and we all make the same mistakes. where are you sleeping this weekend, is there a chance you that you'll be too cold? i have blankets, and you know where they are.
i'm getting sick, more snot fucking dripping down my nose. less of your nose, more of my reflection. gloomy days spent sulking and summer nights forgotten, we're "best friends". we're "nothing makes sense".
but let's carry on, we'll be safer with our shirts on. i understand the distance, where are you? sun sets set, it's all the same bullshit. i died on friday while you "watched the stars", you hurt me, "blah fucking blah".
he is five more than you, but it's cool, i've got my secrets too.

Emo Songs
we're strangers! we're playing twenty questions, we're fucking, falling in love, we're fucking falling apart. soon we're just strangers with history.
i keep looking at the life around me, it's so full of you and it won't seem to leave me alone. i tried to run away, but you beat me to it. I can't keep pretending that you're still the same, i'm too anxious to exist but i must say, thanks for the last two years, I couldn't of asked for a better time. my only regret is that has to end, tears in my eyes, tears in my mouth. I've cried more than a man should, but i think that it's okay, forever's not something that we will ever have.
"suck it up baby boy"
no, i know, i'll be OK, give me a few months to forget your name. I never asked you to leave, but I've got my best friends and they're all i need.

[свернуть]

Состав: Jack, Nick, Michael, Dwayne.

Дискография:

LOL Cats Demo