this one's for the vacant

fleetfootedfox:

somesongsconsidered:

“The Other Side” – The Dismemberment Plan
(Words/music: The Dismemberment Plan, available on Change, DeSoto 2001)

I saw the Dismemberment Plan once before they broke up; they played for close to two hours before we had to leave so my friend could get up early the next day.  The live show only confirmed the sense of adventure I heard in their music.  As the band plowed through a series of fast paced, rhythmically complex songs, it felt like a sonic high wire act.  Rather than play it safe, the band pushed the more frantic songs to the edge, giving the illusion that the whole thing could come crashing down.  In reality, the band remained in control the entire night, whether building up one of their mid-tempo songs or letting loose on the fast ones. 

That night, the band felt close to perfection, and while their music relies on the flawless execution of complex arrangements, many of Travis Morrison’s lyrics focus on imperfections.  “The Other Side,” for instance, presents a series of circumstances that mire our lives – fights based on misunderstandings, weeks that take too long, and a general sense of feeling clueless and without direction.  Perhaps it’s not as exciting as their music – emotional honesty isn’t known for raising adrenaline – but it’s adventurous in its own right.  Morrison catalogs his vulnerabilities realistically, without downplaying or distorting the facts, and he does this as a way to achieve a personal breakthrough – in this case, to reach the “other side.”  Perhaps Morrison feels spurred on by the frenetic drumming behind him, or perhaps the quick pace reflects the urgency of his situation, but he’s trying to make progress through an honest self-assessment.  It’s not as glamorous as a high wire routine, but looking inward often feels like looking a long way down.

More on The Dismemberment Plan: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

I found out about them a week before their final tour hit chicago.  I missed seeing them live.

i feel like i never really know how most people remember the dismemberment plan; i think i’m vaguely aware of a sub-murmur of backlash, nothing serious, just a sense that travis morrison is an asshole (maybe true), that the bass player was the underrated, unrecognized secret heart of the band (probably true), that their records at their most frantic and limit-pushing still weren’t as good as the best by brainiac (almost definitely true).

but i remember the dismemberment plan with a deep fondness and unquestionable personal reverence; emergency & i was one of those most powerful young-adult records for me, throwing into clear relief the growing pains of my early twenties without letting me wallow too long in the myopic swamp of self-obsession which the record promised me would fade and pass with age and time.

i had trouble relating to change in my early 20s when i was listening most often to the band, and i think part of the reason for that is that it’s a more adult record, voicing more adult problems and dropping some of the band’s early twitch and spaz to play with nuance and contrast in songs like this.

but when i saw them live - in pittsburgh, at the tail end of their last show, they breathed life into some songs from change that hadn’t made sense to me before, including this one, “sentimental man,” and “face of the earth,” and i’ll always remember them that way, shifting between frantic and zen, insane and sublime.