Brightside Entry | Handwritten

There are very few things that really stick with me--I can be very extensive about reading, film-watching, music-listening but of those things, there are only a couple of records, only a couple of books,just a few films that really stick and really make me feel every time I listen to them. 

And once something strikes me, I like re-witnessing that thing over and over again until I feel I can remember it properly. I am a very forgetful person and so it really means a lot to me to remember things and I would like to do it well.

One of the few bands who have made a huge impact on my life with their music would have to be The Gaslight Anthem (feel free to check them out if you'd like). Their past two records The '59 Sound & American Slang were instant hits for me--I loved everything: the rhythm, the melodies, the lyrics (Brian Fallon is wonderful with words)--and I memorize almost every song on each of those records. So when their latest album, Handwritten came out, I downloaded it immediately, expecting something like the stuff of their two previous albums (which are equal parts melancholic and resentful, to be honest). When I listened to the singles from this album the first few times, I absolutely abhorred them. I found the themes of the songs too positive (as I've mentioned a lot of times on this blog, it is a continuous struggle for me to stay positive) and alienating. 

But after I gave the record a couple of listens, I found a very, very deep emotional connection with a lot of the songs on the record and the one thing on this record that I haven't found on a lot of other records (even their past efforts which I love) is concern. There is a  deep sympathy in this album for loved ones: whether past or present; I don't just mean sympathy in the want to be loved but sympathy in the sense of genuinely wanting someone to be happy. 

Here is my favorite song from the album, called Too Much Blood.

You can view the complete lyrics here, but these are my favorite lines from this song:

What can I keep for myself if I tell you my hell?
What would be left to take to my grave?
And what’s left for you, my lover to save?
What’s left for only you to take?
If I put too much blood on the page
If I put too much blood on the page
And if I just tell the truth are there only lies left for you
If I put too much love on the page?

Being someone whose passion is writing and who keeps a fairly public blog like this, I can relate to the worry of this song--how those of us who talk about our lives and create work around our experiences leave the people we share those experiences with with nothing to say if we say it all. I think for the people we love, we take some things--some blood, some love--to the grave. :)