Useless Entertainment: #25 Small Sins - Mood Swings

This is one of the first bands I discovered through XM radio. I heard a few songs from their last album released in ’06 and immediately downloaded the album. I listened to that album a lot this year and was not expecting anything new to come out any time soon. One day I’m driving home from work and I go to XMU on XM and they are starting to play their new record straight through with commentary between songs from the lead singer, Thomas D'Arcy. I almost wanted to drive home really slow just to hear it all. The album is very electronic based (keyboards and drum loops appear more often than not). It may be some of the catchiest music to come out this year. A lot of the lyrics provide a stark contrast to the music, often creating images of guns and violence such as “and you know I'd shoot you, if I only had a gun.” Even the album art consists of a drawing of a gun. Not all of the lyrics follow in this vein though. The second track on the album (Morning Face) is what sold me on buying this release. I heard it during my listen on XMU as I mentioned early. Darcy said the track was about waking up with someone and realizing you are one of the only people that get to see their “morning face.” The fact that someone thought to write a song about that just blew me away.

Highlights:
Morning Face
On the Line
I Need a Friend

Favorite Lyrics:
“Yes these are loaded questions
Sent to you late at night
But baby I still need answers”

“If you give me the gun,
Well I’ll shoot myself in the foot,
And I want to be different this time,
But I know that I won’t.
So I need a friend,
To get me on my feet again,
Yeah I need a friend
This time.
Hard working and under slept,
But lazy at heart,
Everything that you know you want
Seems like no big deal when it starts,
So come take my hand my dear,
And show me where I should draw the line,
Cuz I need a friend this time.”

# posted by Steve @ 10:18 PM