“Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast” William Congreve, poet, and playwright (1670-1729).
Burned out, battered, and just plain beat, man it’s been a rough couple of years. And I’m telling you the savageness is all around too. Fortunately, the saying above still holds true through wars, economic upheaval, and maybe just a shit day. It was one of those days where I caught absolutely no breaks. I pissed off my woman, was stressed over work, and ground through household chores. I could feel myself getting tense; so, I decided to give myself a break with some music and retro games. My headphones securely fastened, I scrolled through Qobuz’s Bestsellers and saw Jack White’s Fear of The Dawn.
I figured if it wasn’t any good it didn’t matter, my day already sucked, and I was more focused on the game anyhow. But soon I found myself butt dancing and paying less and less attention to my game. The oversaturated guitar sound, gritty bass tone, splashy drums, and psychedelic synth just worked well with Jack’s distinctive voice in the first 3 tracks. It wasn’t anything that far from his usual fare.
Then track 4 “Hi-De-Ho” comes on with theremin and synth and a sample from Cab Calloway’s “Hi De Ho Man”. It’s weird. I wouldn’t say good, even. But it grabbed my attention and maybe it was just odd enough to distract me from my problems. And I have to say the next few tracks were similarly strange but steadily sounded better to me. I was enjoying the groove of “Into The Twilight” with all of the funky samples before a pause for an interlude track, “Dusk”, gave way to a manic almost spoken word ranting Jack White vocal. “What’s The Trick” is like a manifesto of quit fucking around. And that’s probably what I needed to hear. Get over yourself, man. It’s just a bad day. Cool Jackie, I’m listening.
So now I’m just going with it. The fusion going on of blues, funk, and countless rock genres had me hooked. I start just listening to pick little nuggets out now. The splashy cymbals and muted snare hits on “That Was Then / This is Now” kept me tapping my toes. I noticed hard-panned electric piano stabs against the guitar riffs on “Eosophobia Reprise” giving it a spatial quality. And the Hammond B3 in “Morning, Noon, and Night” seals an homage to the Doors.
The album closes with a slower tempo piano and guitar-driven song, “Shedding My Velvet”. It has catchy little riffs and a building tension that releases at the end for a nice album outro. I got out of my chair and realized I felt quite a bit better. Now, I knew I had to share with someone about this experience. And luckily I shared it with Coop here at Bearded Gentlemen who encouraged me to write this piece. And soon an angle developed as we also talked about my bad day and just some of the general awfulness going around the last few years.
We were certain people who could relate to the lift you get when listening to something new and connecting with it deeply. And I think we could all use a little more connection these days. Admittedly, I had the luxury of working from home during this pandemic, and my extrovert side felt neglected. I missed live music and just talking to co-workers in person. Things are opening up, but we all remain wary that it will all come crashing down. And while these are definitely champagne problems, I can feel the weight of it all as I doom-scroll social media and see the state of affairs in this world. Plus my job as a therapist at a hospital opens my eyes to just how many people are hurting. More weight, which I’m starting to notice around my waistline, as food gives comfort and leaves behind calories.
I sense there is this sort of heaviness going around as if gravity got dialed up a notch or two. And there aren’t too many refuges from it like music. It’s a healing power, respite for an hour, and a chance to reconnect with your unburdened self. So next time you find yourself weighed down, stop and listen to something new. Despite it being good or bad, you’ll likely forget about your burdens for a while. As Albert Schweitzer noted, “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” I happen to be allergic to cats.
Fear of the Dawn is now available at Third Man Records.