Space Between Words
And We All Follow the Sun
(Space Between Words, Magnetron Publishing LLC, SESAC)
spacebetweenwords.net
Go to the website above. Head to the media section and download Space Between Words' crispy new debut album, And We All Follow the Sun. Don't forget to make a donation. Then drop it into your iTunes, slap it on your MP3 player, or burn it onto a disc to slip into your car.
But whatever you do, hold on to something and prepare for the ride. Space Between Words is out in the ether. And with just one listen to this early effort, you'll know exactly what the band means when it refers to the "space lab" where "strange scientific experiments" are conducted.
You see, And We All Follow the Sun unfolds a bit like a story. Imagine this hip cat named Rockabilly meeting a brooding figure named '70s Garage down a dark alley where unspeakable things generally happen, perhaps involving trannies and hobos. On their way to a spaceship, they run into a shit-kicker named Southern Rock, who comes along for the ride on a sidereal journey through the cosmos where they hook up with lots of hot, green alien chicks, smoke some space reefer, and enjoy epic good times. The end.
But that doesn't really give you many specifics about the 10 impressive tracks contained therein, does it? Like the technical brilliance this young band exudes on the record, mastering a perfectly clean and balanced chaos. Or the deeply cerebral lyricism and the depth of the themes that infuse these musically adept cuts.
Take, for example, "Crazy Fox," a tongue in cheek stab at Fox News. Or the anthemic "Things Children Do." Or the meandering "Overcomplicated Mind," a single strangely reminiscent of Toad the Wet Sprocket that preaches against getting mired in self doubt. Or '60s surf-garage hybrid "Sweet Mary," inspired by an article about the horrors of the child sex slavery trade in Cambodia. Then there's "The Beast," a rocker that would've been right at home on the Strokes' Room On Fire.
The band bio claims that the members joined to challenge each other and the status quo; And We All Follow the Sun does just that. As keyboardist and vocalist Steven Wiengarth described the album during a recent interview with Crossfade: "The concept is about how everyone falls in line, because we all follow the sun. Whatever our leader, media, teacher, priest, and trendsetters tell us to do is the word of a prophet. The sun represents these things keeping us in its gravitational pull. With our album, we try to make the point that you shouldn't live your life based on the opinion and examples of others."
