This is not exactly what we were promised! Sure, it wasn’t like anyone signed on the dotted line and issued a “Thou shalt be happy” decree that we could all use. Still, all the fancy new religions warned us that something was coming and that, probably, it was gonna make us happy. The science buffs warned us about technology getting better, and they also advised we better get ready for a big round of happiness. And, well, politicians always harp about how happy we’ll be once we’ve made the right choice and are placed on a throne high enough so that they can see us all.
Still, there are some keeping awake and call us “suckers.” They’re saying that we’re looking for hope in all the wrong places. They believe that, first, we ought to make peace with the here and now, with our natural condition, with the worst-case scenario.
That’s why, in many ways, PHI-108’s “Conditions of Re-entry” EP is a wonderfully sobering collection of songs, followed by a warm embrace provided while you’re sobbing away. The five songs are all about an end. But they’re not about how we get there, or how we avoid it, but rather, about how we react once we’ve arrived.
Just listen to the opening track, “Die Young,” which, despite its name, doesn’t sound sinister in the slightest. Musically, this does bring to mind 2000s synth-friendly indie-rock bands. The lyrics, which are the highlight of the songs here, centre on the idea that we’re all a speck of dust in an endless Universe. Why bother being scared if that’s the case?
“The Measure” talks blues lines into almost trance-like territory. Here, the singer advises quieting the brain, accepting what is inevitable in life, and putting down the Kool-Aid of hope.
But what if I like the taste of the Kool-Aid? What about all the people who want a little hope? “Conditions of Re-entry” will still be enjoyable for its ambitiously experimental indie rock sounds. Still, the lyrics don’t mince any words or shy away from the record’s main thesis.
“Heaven Knows” with its pop song construction and dramatic layered vocals worries that most people are denying themselves the gruesome truth because of fear. And “Seconds to Go” is a plea to dissociate from the meaningless fretting about the world’s problems.
“Conditions of Re-entry,” at its heart, is a collection of songs directed at false prophets. Where does it leave us? Scratching our chin and, if you accept these ideas, perhaps a little bit freer from life’s burdens. As the closing track “Wanderers” zooms by your ears, you may just start feeling like the journey’s just begun and that, thankfully, nobody really knows where it’ll end.
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