ihavebeenfloated

I am so pissed at myself for missing the boat on this one. It’s been three years since this album was released, garnering massive critical and even commercial success. Here I am, only listening to it now.

Don’t get me wrong, I tried to listen to it in the past, but my heart wasn’t open to it. I’m going to attribute The National with opening myself up to this album, and I have to thank them for it.

I think, being that the album is so old, that any sort of in-depth review is unnecessary. (Course, all in-depth reviews are relatively unnecessary to me.)

There’s a lot of little things that make me love this album. Here’s a list.

1.) I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is the perfect opening track. It introduces you to Jeff Tweedy’s sleepy, drunken, melancholy vocals and the sort of self-depreciating, emo, and utterly miserable songwriting about love that, for some reason, is perfect for me at this point in my life. It even has the experimental indie psychedelia drone that I love regardless, that is rampant throughout the album.

2.) That aforementioned indie psychedelia drone of noise. I love that shit. I eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s combination with something else I love, number stations, on Poor Places makes me smile every single time I hear it. It’s so emotionally intense that it’s hard not to smile at the overwhelming emotions something so simple as a woman droning over static can inspire in me.

3.) I’m The Man Who Loves You is one of those songs that speaks to me at whatever exact moment I am suffering through in my life. I’ve listened to this song over twelve times on its own, separate from the album, and I can’t get enough of it. Same for Poor Places.

4.) Almost all of the songs are catchy, you can sing along with them, and even in their depressive stance they are optimistic and make me feel good about everything. That is important to me.