Halfcast – The Damage
I’m not sure that I miss the half-hour guitar solos or the drum kit that required three roadies to be set up. But I do miss the awkwardness and vulnerability of the progressive rock bands of the 1970s. You don’t get much of that anymore.
Sure, those empty feelings were rarely expressed directly. But you could tell what they were really talking about in all of those songs about ancient beasts and mythological goddesses. They were saying that they were lonely!
Maybe that’s what helped that music sound amazingly warm and friendly to so many people. Maybe this is the energy that helps Halfcast, a band taking on the mantle of those prog-rock groups that somehow managed to sell millions and fill out arenas.
Halfcast’s “The Damage” blends styles, reveals musical virtuosity and manages to put it all in a slickly produced, modern rock medium. But the band is more honest than most serving the prog-rock Gods might be. This is a song about being taken apart and repairing yourself in any way that you can. And, for once, the prog band doesn’t just sound grandiose, but is confident enough to whisper the truth with its lyrics.
follow – Cherry Blossoms in the Front Yards, Forever
Even the greatest poets of rock n’ roll get tired of yapping on and on. Dylan got sick of people thinking he was some kind of prophet sent by God. Lou Reed just recorded nasty-sounding feedback for a double album. And, Neil Young opted to play guitar solos when he really wanted to let the audience in on what he was really feeling.
But that just makes sense. At the end of the day, truthfully, the words to songs are just an extra element, an additional sound. And, sadly, often, they become a distraction. Many times, they turn into the only thing that the audience remembers a song for.
follow would like us to consider music the way that previous generations did – as a piece of lengthy instrumental music that you allow to change your mood, to shape your day, to get you in touch with your feelings.
In that sense, “Cherry Blossoms in the Front Yards, Forever” resembles the scope of classical music. Still, unlike those compositions, this works with raw emotion. Each phrase swirls around and falls back from where it started, like thoughts that one can simply not escape. It’s a powerful, resonant piece, and it needs no additional words to convey these feelings across.
