SPLICED Magazine Issue 04 April/May 2014 | Page 27

SPLICED LIFE / MUSIC / DEAR READER ISSUE 04 Dear Reader / Replace Why With Funny (2009) I totally forgot about this little gem, but man is it killer for the car. Imagine driving with a spring in your step, but in a way that doesn’t turn your travels into a scene out of Carmaggedon (those poor Rottweilers). It’s really great to sing to with the volume turned up so high that even you don’t notice how poor your singing is. You also might imagine that you too can play classical instruments with gusto and great skill. You’ll probably be pretty wrong, but no one cares when you’re playing the air-violin at red robots. The vocals are sweet as cherry-pie, the music is accomplished-as-fuck, and the lyrics take you on charmingly quirky journeys through the divide between fantasy and earnest heartfelt-ness (your face isn’t a word). “The Same,” a tale of benevolent white guilt, may go a little too far into earnest territory, but that’s what the skip button’s for. BEST TRACKS Great White Bear / You know those daydreams when you imagine that you are the protagonist in your own adventure story (possibly even viewed on flickery film at the back of your mind on a dull concrete-jungle day)? This is what the journey part of the story might sound like. Never Goes / It’s a sad one, but it’s kind of hauntingly beautiful and musically dramatic in a “wow” way. In fact, I really wish these guys would start gigging locally again. Give me more of this loveliness in my face, Dear Reader! 27