When the Two Gallants’ first album, The Throes, was released, a friend from Portland recommended them them to me, explaining that they’d be right up my alley. I liked the songs and their energy, but most of the record was a bit too harsh for me, and their stuff never fully caught. I continued to listen, and last year I heard some promising live tracks in advance of their new album, What The Toll Tells, that kept me curious.
But it wasn’t until the final track on the album, “Waves of Grain,” that I was finally hooked. The production was much better, and there were some brilliant lines, such as, “And your progeny’s brave / Their trackhouses waiting / Pre-plucked and pre-paved / To the ends of the earth / Wife, kids and a car.” It’s the sort of commentary on the culture of american suburbanism that usually only Modest Mouse can pull off. The song has a great deal of depth, and is centered by a scathing criticism of our current president’s political agenda. Over 9 minutes, the pace picks up, as does the grief in Adam Stephens’ voice. By the time he comments, “And you hide the dead / While my friends had to die in your name,” I get goosebumps all over.
The song is a glimmering example of just how great it is to believe in something. Even treading a muddy path, there is something entirely courageous and admirable about taking a reasoned stand in defiance. Its the Thomas Paine response, and nothing upsets me more about this country than when people refuse to perform their duty as citizens, or when blind following is equated with patriotism while heartfelt dissent is labeled as treasonous. Much like Adam, I am deeply troubled by the course that this country is taking, but do not take that as a reason to subscribe to an only slightly altered vision offered by the administration’s single party of opposition. They tell us that the sky is falling. Though I can’t say that I’m praying for rain, I am hoping, at least, for a change in the winds.
