![]() ![]() It’s a long overdue revelation that he alone can’t be there for everyone at all times, which makes Lament their capstone-a Touché Amoré album that can reach the most people as possible from the greatest distance. This entire history is summarized on “I’ll Be Your Host,” the second single from their phenomenal fifth album Lament, wherein Bolm recognizes the privilege of his platform and the common misconception that he can singlehandedly walk people through their grieving process because he made a great hardcore record about not knowing how to grieve. He atoned by making an entire album about her passing from stage 4 breast cancer. Bolm missed his mother’s dying day because he was “on stage living the dream” at Fest in Florida. The music he makes with his band, Touché Amoré, compels guys with neck tattoos to spend a half hour irresponsibly slamming into fellow fans before they corner Bolm after the show and reveal how they felt truly seen by “And Now It’s Happening In Mine.” He’ll be the first to tell you about the ways he falls short: 2013’s Is Survived By explored Bolm’s struggles with the pressures of being in a profoundly impactful (but not famous) hardcore band, which brought even greater success and demands. But it is important for people to see someone struggle through some serious shit to get to that point, and if you prefer redemption songs to sound as raw as they feel, Sprained Ankle could bring you to your knees.Jeremy Bolm has spent the past decade striving to live up to the example set by his own words. "Good News" plays on the double meaning of hysterical: "It's not easy when what you think of me is so important/ And I know it shouldn't be so important.I'm only screaming at myself in public/ I know I shouldn't act this way in public." Later, she asks to be swallowed and smothered by the parking lot as you drive away, an echo of Morrissey's operatic curtain call during the 190-proof melodrama of "I Know It's Over".Īnd like Moz, Baker isn't without a sense of humor about herself. "Wish I could write songs about anything other than death" isn't the sort of thing you say unless you're self-aware. Obviously, these songs are about resilience, but Baker acknowledges her willingness to wallow in despair. Baker has the same kind of magnetism to get lines like, "I am so good at hurting myself", sung by a crowd of young acolytes. Baker's metaphors can also be similarly excessive and clunky at times ("I know I am a pile of filthy wreckage you will wish you never touched"). Before Chris Carrabba became a caricature of himself and an avatar for emo-as-a-Halloween-costume, there really wasn't much else like him for the hardcore kids. But considering her formative listening experiences and punk roots, by the time she reaches the high notes over an aggressively strummed, stock descending chord pattern in "Everybody Does", her most apt comparison might be Dashboard Confessional. There are traces of other current acts in her sound-the album title is inspired by a lyric ("Sprinter learning to wait/ Marathon runner, my ankles are sprained") that instantly brings up the similarly ecclesiastical bloodletting of fellow Tennessean Torres, while her thick, close-harmonizing recalls Sharon Van Etten. ![]() It's gorgeously recorded and yet, there's still the suggestion that these might've been demos-the scant overdubs of drums or harmonized vocals just drive home how lonely Baker is, that she may have meant these to eventually be full-band arrangements one day. She's a minimalist, playing bassy clusters of melodic thirds, flicking silvery harmonics, palm-muting chords. Sprained Ankle is a solo, singer-songwriter album, but very little of it would be considered "folky." She professes David Bazan, mewithoutYou's Aaron Weiss, and Ben Gibbard as idols, but her guitar playing bears more of their influence than their vocals. ![]() By the end of November, she'll be joining the tasteful-indie double bill of EL VY and Wye Oak. She recently opened for Touché Amoré, a post-hardcore band of blazing intensity and extreme devotees that was previously on 6131 Records and more indicative of the music on Baker's label. More important is how Baker operates in existential ultimatums-life or death, hope or despair, oblivion or epiphany. It cuts through the bullshit rather than piling onto it, and its clarity and honesty has instantly helped Baker reach across aisles. This voyeuristic appeal plays a minor role in distinguishing Sprained Ankle, though. ![]()
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