I am a firm believer of the term "don't let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do". If you have the drive and potential to do what ever you are set out to do, nothing in this world can stop you. I enter into my last semester of my short university career and when looking back on my school days, I was never a very good student. Not in a skip school, never attend sort of way, I was just unable to get good grades no matter how hard I tried. My sister is a huge role model for me, and for good reason too...smart, determined, focused, driven...and an A student. Me on the other hand, I have the drive, I have the determination, but a C+, B student at best. Never did I have a mark where my parents could keep on their fridge and ponder at the fact that both of their kids are A students in a foreign country where they couldn't even speak the language when they arrived. So when I surprised my parents with my first A in a Canadian university where "A's" were usually bell curved, the look that my mother had on her face was priceless, it was a mixture of emotions where she was speechless and on the brink of tears...in other words the happiest i've seen her in years. It took me 15 years of schooling, and thousands of dollars, but that one "A" and the smile on my mother's face was worth ever cent.
#18
Augustana - Can't Love, Can't Hurt
You may remember this band from a couple of years ago with their hit single "Boston"...ring a bell? Remember that catchy piano lick in the beginning of the song? If not, you may remember them playing in the background of certain melodramatic television shows...cause that's where I found them. Don't start teasing me now, "Friday Night Lights" is an extremely well written, well acted show, and the music they chose lead me to a great album, and another review. The song that I was so determined to (as my sister and I would put it) Shazam was called "
Fire". This fully acoustic piano track is a great example of lead singer Dan Layus's song writing ability. His choice of chords and his heartfelt lyrics apprehend the audience up until his final howl of the word "home", staying with the note for at least fourteen seconds...I couldn't keep a high note for more then four seconds even if I tried. "
Twenty Years" is another song that is driven by Layus's piano and soft spoken lyrics. The melody he chooses are simple, but the way he arranges them are quite unique. For example, the first two bars of "Twenty Years" stays with a traditional four bar stanza, but on the third bar, he switches from a sharp to a flat, rearranging conventional chords to an unconventional melody.
I choose this album mainly because it was simple and too the point. From the very first note, you were able to tell that the band had a connection with each other and the music they were writing. It was real, nothing fake, and they had nothing to hide, which reminded me that simplicity is still the answer to many things. There is always pressure all around us to do something out of the ordinary, something you're not comfortable with, something that you know you wouldn't do if you had a choice. The reason I got a good grade was because I chose to keep it simple. I chose a subject I was comfortable discussing, and wrote a paper on which I felt was something I would even say out loud. Just keep it simple, with anything, doesn't matter if no one else likes it...."you just gotta do you".
Augustana - Can't Love, Can't hurt
4/5
recommended:
Fire
Twenty Years
When Love Went Wrong
Hey Now
Sweet & Low
No comments:
Post a Comment