It’s no secret why the majority of us dream of becoming rock stars, professional athletes, or presidents of the country. It’s because we don’t like responsibility and would like to avoid it as much as possible. We dream of a life where we never have to ask ourselves the big question, where we never have to find out “what it all means.”
But the ones that stick with any of those dreams long enough inevitably find themselves stumbling over life’s serious issues. Will they face them or run away? Will they be able to wave a smile while contemplating the meaning of existence, or break down in tears?
The Drawing Mazes EP, “Sunday Morning Pancakes”, features songs about taking it all in, facing it all, and choosing to accept life for what it is. It is the music equivalent of what Alan Alda would sum up as: “Never have your dog stuff!”
Because while Chris Pusinelli, the man behind the Drawing Mazes moniker, might spend a whole song just pleasantly strumming on a ukulele and telling you how the night turned out like crap on “A Night Out from 2010,” they’re just as willing to try and thrill you with the dreamy sounds of the danceable “Memories of our Youth.”
If this EP were a travel log, it’d be one that, in equal measures, captures the excitement of seeing new things and the terror of plans going wrong. The unifying theme of the album is that life goes up, then down, and all of that is perfectly natural.
The same approach is carried into the music. You might get the gentle psychedelic-pop of “Help Me Through the Afternoon,” a song about being weighed down by life’s problems, or the fantasy of exotic lands of “Banana Beach” with the innocent-sounding whispered vocals.
Where does it all leave us? Hopefully, looking for our own island without worries, and happy to give ourselves a break when the ship, occasionally, capsizes and sends us drifting through the water. “Sunday Morning Pancakes” is a set of pleasant songs about cold showers and warm sunlight, an anthem to acceptance.
Social media links
