An Introspective Look At Resident Hero Part 2
Its been awhile since I’ve really looked track by track to anything really especially any sort of album review, but as long as I’m the topic of Resident Hero, I’ll give it a go here.
A little bit of back story as it pertains from my point of view.
As far as I know Resident Hero has been around for a good ten years with an ever changing lineup over time. The one constant has been Ryan White on vocals/guitar. A few years back their website posted nearly all of their older albums up for free download and like a giddy schoolchild I was quick to gobble them all up. I already owned the two EPs that with their current/final lineup from shows but was interested to see how they sounded before. It’s different, but that’s because really it’s a different band, a different era. I don’t really want to go much into them, but you can definitely see progression from album to album, even with the the newer EPs they were selling on tour (Brown and White EPs). When they announced that they were finally going to head into the studio to record a full length LP on their own instead of waiting for a record company to do it for them I was pretty stoked. The quality on previous records was pretty alright as is, but there was always promise of better and more. They posted studio vlogs and little updates here and there to entice us all. At one point there was a semi track list that showed up in the video which left me ecstatic to see how many songs I already knew were on there and some new ones I’d never heard of before. Then nothing happened. They sort of sat on the record for a good year while they tried to get it out there and get support for it.
I had almost forgotten about it until one day a meekly little post appeared on their myspace informing that the record was coming out later in the summer with some full on touring behind it. Fantastic. And it did and we all rejoiced in it. I purchased Look off of Itunes at midnight when it was released and while very excited to finally have a copy, was surprised to see a few tracks that were previously missing that were my favorites (no Permanent Tracers? No Open Target? This is a sham!) But what did show up on the final track was more than enough. It told a story in a round about way. The album itself created a world that showed just what goes on in someone’s life when you struggle from the day to day. The joys and heartbreaks, the passions and the lies, the successes and the failures.
Vendetta Black – The album beings strong with what is most likely the heaviest song on the entire album. Right from the get go it’s like a punch in the face bombarding the listener with a catchy riff and a powerful question of what do you do when your heroes fail? This to me seems to be a general theme throughout the album. Maybe its not and this song just sets the tone for it, but it seems like it to me anyway. Its no wonder this was a staple at every live show since its incarnation in 2007.
Tears And Kisses – This to my knowledge was a “new song” first heard on the album itself. I know I never heard it live along with a couple other songs on this album anyway. This was also one of the songs that I did in fact hear long before this album came out however. When RH toured through Little Rock in December of 07’, Ryan left his guitars in town and by some strange turn of events I picked them up and drove to meet him halfway between here and Tyler, TX on Christmas Eve to return them to him. In return he gave me a copy of a cd that included a live acoustic show he performed sometime earlier. Many of those songs eventually became Resident Hero songs. As for the song itself, it starts of slow and melancholy admitting to a sadder moment, then erupting into something more fierce in declaration of the truth of a situation and how things really were behind the scenes.
The Pressure – Another track from that live acoustic cd this song is another that starts out in a way to fool you into thinking that the entire song will be just as heavy as the intro, but no. It starts off powerful then backs off considerably while maintaining momentum from start to finish. It deals with the pressures of life and responsibilities that come with it, yet I can’t ever stop to think of how it was described the last time I saw them live: “this song is about eating hamburgers and sleeping on your friends couch”. Well played Mr. White. Well played.
Stepping Through – Often heard, at least to me, as the first song performed live towards the end of their touring run, Stepping Through is a straight forward progressive rock song. Its honest and true and almost seems to cry out to the listener of its story and where its been while asking for assistance to press on further. It begins with simple clean guitar and vocals simply explode mid verse into something that grabs anybodies attention.
Look – One of two tracks I had never heard before the cd was released and I’m glad I never had, as it made it fresh and new right from the start. Its hands down one of the most bouncy and if I dare say dancey songs on the album if you can call it that. Jay’s simple yet catchy drumbeat that beings the song sets the tone for something that you know is going to build into something better the longer it goes. To me its one of those songs that says simple is often just as powerful as something far more complex. There can’t be more than 3 or 4 sections of this song that go on repeat, yet strong enough to hold their own. My second favorite track on the album.
Throwing Knives – This song is similar to Tears and Kisses as it has a very prominent piano part added into it. It’s a slower song especially coming out of the previous track but its another one of those start slow and explode pretty quickly catching you off guard. It starts with acoustic guitar and piano then turns full band at the first chorus. I suppose that I should note that Jay’s two measure hi hat dance as I like to call it right before the second verse sets in gets stuck in my head all the time. Its another song that seems to reflect back on a previous situation, but not with regret but in true reflection with a determination to move on from it or at very least to correct the mistakes from the past.
Happy (Without Me) – Haven’t we all heard this song enough already? It’s been on how many recordings now? No, that’s ok because each time it’s re-recorded it sounds much better than the last. This very well may be the definitive version of Happy. Cited as the pop song of RH, the song that record companies desired most of all to take and sign the band on, but then most likely dump after it plays its course. Its one of those hey this relationship is over and we know it, but as the title says I don’t want you to be happy without me. Simple yet selfish concept, but we’ve all been there. I know I have.
Title Withheld – By far one of the most honest tracks on the entire cd that almost feels as if it doesn’t belong here, for that reason it’s mostly entirely piano. It’s a deeper confession of what happens in the aftermath of a failed relationship and the feelings we all go through when we struggle to get back up. It begins with a confession, then a desire, then a description, then finally a resolution to give up and move on. It’s a relationship in itself. Mid way through it picks up steam when the drums and bass power in then fade away as the song concludes. Very ballad and very strong. On a personal note I was always confused by the title or lack of on the album. On the live cd I have it does have a title, but I’m not sure if it was changed for Look or if that just wasn’t the real title at all. Due to the nature of the song, I don’t think I’ll ever ask but it always made me wonder.
Life In Hell - Starting with the previous track and from here on out the album seems to shift gears drastically. The general tone goes from regret and pain to acceptance, love, as well as semi-frustration and anger as Life In Hell is full of. It begins with a wicked distortion from Luke’s bass and powers on once again in a very simple formula of verse chorus verse chorus to the end, but it doesn’t need anymore than that. After the acceptance of Title Withheld, Life In Hell is almost the semi-fall back into habits of before accomplishing such a task. You are fully aware of what has transpired and yet are now past the depression and move into the frustration of forging ahead and realizing that maybe in some sick way this is what you wanted and asked for all along when you wanted an out of the previous situation. Luke once said in a video that of the newer RH songs this was his favorite, and there’s good reason for it.
Stars – The second song I had never heard before and what I like to think of as Time Is Nothing part 1, especially live as it seems to just transition into the final track so flawlessly. Another stripped down simple song that breathes honesty. It follows a simple yet strong pattern set on by the simple clean guitar strokes for the majority of the song before it builds into a more intense version of the intro for the rest of the way out. This time the feelings of regret are reversed and its almost as looking the other way of a bad situation almost as if you were the one who made that decision and the other person is the one left in the dust seeing stars, but I’m not.
Time Is Nothing – My absolute favorite song on the album and I’ll admit favorite song period in music. I was a fan of it before this album but after they revised, beat it to death, resurrected it, and made it longer in the studio; it really did become something of a monster in its own right and gained something that was missing all along. It’s a very slow song that becomes extremely intense then backs off multiple times before giving it all its got at the very end with something of a primal scream that always reminds me of watching it be performed live as on the very last moment of the song the band always just dropped their instruments on the stage and stormed off while the distortion rings in your ears. Always the last thing you see of Resident Hero on stage. Part personal experience, part inspired by the book The Time Traveler’s Wife, Time Is Nothing is something of an epic tale without the tale in it, just sort of the lost love letters that were never read nor ever will be. It tells of love that is destined to be but never will be fully realized for some reason unknown to us. There is a past of this love, there is a present, and there would be a future if there wasn’t enough regret or something serious standing in the way. An almost I won’t let you waste your life waiting for me, nor will I let you throw it away for me despite how strong of a sense it is for both you and I. This was a very personal song for me as well that seemed to gain meaning from my previous relationship and even more meaning when it ended and the feelings were mirrored in more ways than one. Time Is Nothing and I’ll Love You Always. While Ryan didn’t write that line, he perfected it.
Behind Your Back – The “bonus track” if you will that was not originally released on the album and can only be found if you bought the album from amazon.com. Its place in the track list feels a bit tacked on and out of line with the story, but it wasn’t intended to be included in the first place as far as I can tell. That doesn’t however diminish the intensity of the song. Another song similar to the pressure as it starts off strong and heavy then backs off considerably to tell as sweet story of trial and error with a very sweet goodbye at the end of it. It may be less of an intensity after Time Is Nothing but it does bring you back to sweet remembrance of the feelings portrayed mid album when you had listened to it just minutes ago.
Look the album as a whole is a potpourri of heavy sounds, soft tones, and pure driving emotion. Some may argue that every song seems to deal with the same subject matter and perhaps that’s true, but it almost seems intentional to create a sort of story. It begins with a realization and goes through the emotions of the hardships of life, all of them. Then in the end gives an ending more realistic to life: sometimes life isn’t a fairy tale. Sometimes everything doesn’t work out the way you had planned nor the way you wanted but we live, we learn, we experience, we fail, and we have to get back up. It’s the progress in life that creates who we are from then on out. A text I received from Ryan last November says it all to me here:
“How you recover from hardships are what defines you.”
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