Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone (February 7, 2020) Album • Page 12

I don’t get the it all sounds the same comments.

 

I think this record actually feels a bit more varied than Schmaltz, but they really do rely on the "quiet bridge that explodes into a big last chorus" trick a lot. They're so good at it though.

 

Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone LP + Slipmat Bundle

US peeps: Here's a /100 limited variant with a screenprinted cover and a slipmat.

 

“Your 29 year panic attack
And not the fashionable kind
The kind where you wake up and say
"Man, I just wanna survive"
But this world is short on empathy”


this is literally me. i’m 28 and had two panic attacks at work this year already.

 

Schmaltz made me feel in 2018 the way The Upsides made me feel in 2010. Like, "holy shit, this is my band." So, so, so glad so many people are now having that revelatory experience with this album now.

 

Not surprised I love this

 

So happy to see all of the new faces in here loving it too!

 

The lyrics for Dolores are so heartbreaking and sadly far too relevant...

Radio’s droning
Dulled out by the intercom on fire
Guiding the evening’s choreography

Katie has her hand in a young man’s chest
Stain on her white shoes that won’t wash out
So usual
Not even the last pair this year

Down the hallway -- cries rise and fall
In between the nearly constant sirens
Someone turns on the news like we need it
It’s just another white man with a grudge

Break room sits empty
Like our hearts are draining in the waiting room
You think of your daughter
And her wedding
You know life isn’t long enough

Shirt speckled red
Holding onto a young girl’s hand
So frail & cold
So casual
Not even the last one today

I Wish for the fingers to count
Or the memory to remember each new city
Lost track so long ago
Think it was around 260

They’re praying for you
Everyone here is dead or dying
You know there’s nothing we could do if we tried
Isn’t that good enough?

 

Do you (or does anyone) know what this is specifically about? I've been wondering since I got my pre-order. It's mass shootings, of course, but does Dylan or someone else in the band have a specific connection to one, or someone named Katie or Dolores?

EDIT: Dolores could be in reference to a shooting in Dolores Park in San Francisco, though that seems rather obscure.

 

They seem very focused on mass shootings

 

I know it’s only February. This is my current AOTY.

 

We don't have to fix everything at once
We were never broken, life's just very long
Brave faces everyone

This whole album is just such an honest, raw take on the state of society. None of that false hope bullshit like "It won't be this bleak forever" that honestly probably isn't true. But also all throughout the album there is this refusal to actually give up on the need to keep fighting for another step.

 

The fact the entirety of the US isn't, is a much bigger story to those of who live elsewhere.

 

The thing about the message of this album is that it's written from the sort of trending-pessimistic perspective that'll be instantly recognisable to anyone dealing with depression. As someone who's been battling depression of much of their life, there's a lot here I find relatable on an almost uncomfortable level, but - and here's the important thing - it never surrenders to nihilism. It's not an album whose core message is 'everything is fucked', it's saying that 'things look bad but that's no reason to give up hope, you can fight for something better if you want it'. It doesn't shy away from the hard truths we're confronted with but there's a hard-won optimism that's nothing short of vital. From my perspective in 2020 this album is exactly what I fucking needed.

 

Very fair point lol

 

I donno if I fully agree there. I think the album is pretty clear that everything is fucked, and things just don't look bad they actually are bad.

I also don't see a lot of *hope* in the album. Yes there is optimism, but it doesn't come from a hope that things will get better but rather a stubborn willingness to keep fighting because you refuse to let life win.

Maybe things will get better. Maybe they won't. But if you just tell yourself "If I keep my head up stuff eventually won't be this bleak" you're setting yourself up for failure when everything remains bleak. Which is why I think this album is album to set itself a part from a lot of other stuff. By allowing itself to reject the hope shit will change, it creates a compelling reason to still fight even with the absence of hope.

 

Didn’t disappoint. Like the themes carrying through the album and feel they did a good job of building on the last album.

Read somewhere each song was inspired by a person or story they came across.

Pumped to see them with the TWY. Just wish they had the main support instead of Free Throw. TWY are always great about including diverse support except for their direct support. Wish they’d realize that.

 

its fun that theyre touring with TWY and Menzingers because this album literally feels like 50% each of those bands.

and i like it!

 

this is my read as well - it's fucked, and we don't know if things are gonna get better, but we're not giving up anyway

also, as far as gun violence, Dylan's dad got shot in an accident (and survived) and it really affected him, so that's why it shows up in his lyrics so much

 

Hey, not trying to single you out but I know you're also a big fan of Frightened Rabbit.

I feel like FR and Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst do this kind of writing really well where it is pretty bleak at times but there is usually the sense of optimism or the light at the end of the tunnel if you will.

I'm not disagreeing with your take, but I think Scott/Conor do a better job of presenting the 'things look bad but that's no reason to give up hope, you can fight for something better if you want it' side of things.

I've only heard this all the way through once, so I probably need to spend more time with it but I did kind of feel like the main takeaway here is "Everything is fucked" - interesting conversation for the this type of music though so hopefully we can all keep discussing it with level heads.

 

Welp, this is an early contender for AOTY. I needed this in my life right now

 

It's greater.

 

seemingly unpopular opinion that i agree w

 

Half the first album is great and half I don’t care much for. I’ll also say I do think that this is quite a bit more varied than Schmaltz although of course that album is dear to me

 

Still can distinctly remember listening to Giant for the first time. It was the album of the year the second I heard it. This is a little disappointing to me but I'm happy for those who it is resonating with. They've come a long way in just a few years.