Window dressing. Clutter. Vestigial Adornments. Most art that’s ever been created has plenty of useless stuff to go along with the main talking points. It keeps reviewers like me employed. But, even worse, it confuses the people who truly want to interact with the art. That’s, maybe, the reason why children dread so much having to write a poem and read in front of the class. Saint Nick the Lesser wouldn’t have such problems.
But the fact is that some of the kids who grow confused about what poetry ought to be end up in rock bands and translate that confusion into 10-minute-long guitar solos and expressionistic abstract poetry. Nearly every modern artist imagines themselves as some kind of leather-jacket wearing James Joyce. Nearly everyone secretly hopes that the world will stop analysing the meaning of their meaningless texts.
Instead, Saint Nick the Lesser strips away the paint and takes down the exhibit labels for the single “21 Minutes.” A punk song played over an acoustic guitar, making so that you can hear exactly what the songwriter has to say, “21 Minutes” is designed to, first, stop you in your tracks and, finally, give you some hope. It wouldn’t be able to do that if you were focusing on impenetrable metaphors or being chased away by guitar feedback. This is honest, raw and, yes, catchy songwriting. And, yes, this actually means something.
