Day 2: Relient K - Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do
Alright, I already know what you’re thinking. We’re only a sentence and one-half in, and there’s already a massive elephant in this cyber room, so we might as well address it:
Isn’t Relient K a christian band? Doesn’t she cover Bad Religion? Aren’t some of her own songs vaguely humanistic? I’m confused. I need more coffee.
Don’t we all. Coffee is the nectar of the gods. I know from firsthand, addicted experience. Right now, however, I’m avoiding caffeine because of my stupid throat problems. Instead, I’m grumpily typing into my keyboard and preparing to listen to a band I am *almost* entirely unfamiliar with.
Almost being the operative word.
Let me introduce you to a friend of mine:
Her name was Kara and I met her thirteen years ago as an eighth grader at my nearby middle school, Canyon Hills. Most people at Canyon Hills didn’t like me. Kara chose to like me. This made me really, really like Kara. We quickly became very close friends and remained as such until she passed away, on her birthday, five years ago.
Everyone who knew and loved Kara will often bring up her legendary hugs or her unmistakable laugh. They might also bring up the fact that she loved Pi Day (March 14, for the unfamiliar) or that she was super excited to become an aunt. One of my favorite Kara memories took place when I was fifteen. I was heartbroken, soaking her shoulder with my tears as she played with my hair. She told me that I’d get over it, eventually. She was right. She was usually right anyway.
What does any of this have to do with Relient K? Well, Kara loved Relient K. She would often try to get me to listen to them, especially toward the end of our high school days (during which I was gradually shifting away from Christianity). At the time, I had zero interest in listening to Relient K. I wanted to hear angry, loud music that challenged dogmatic thought and gave the finger to tradition.
I’ve grown up quite a bit since those days. I still enjoy listening to loud, angry, anti-dogmatic music...but that’s in addition to many other styles and genres with varying messages. And now, slightly five years after losing Kara, I’m totally interested in hearing Relient K. I miss her so much - and if hearing this band might briefly help me feel reconnected to her - well then, I’m super duper down for it.
Much thanks is owed to Gabriel for this week’s suggestion. Gabriel is an active member of the local El Paso band A Thief Named Time and has also worked with one of my favorite local songwriters, Javier Martinez. Follow him. Check out what he does. It’s good stuff, dude.
Huh. This album was released the very year Kara and I met. Interesting.
I was in high school in the mid 2000s, when pop punk and emo bands were beginning to explode in popularity. When I was a freshman, a touring band visited my high school and played a lunch time set for all of us hacky sack bandits. Having lived a fairly sheltered life, I had never heard anything like this band, who called themselves Mourning Maxwell (damnit, now I’m thinking about coffee again). They played high energy pop punk, sung about heartache and identity, and had a cynical edge to their lyrics.
They weren’t unique in this approach, however.
Many similar bands were surfacing at the time and more often than not, they incorporated very literal lyrics, conversational-esque lyrics between two vocalists, a tenor of desperation in their vocal delivery, and a constant sense of cynicism - be it with girls, the scene, how they’re perceived, etc.
Notice how many of these song traits could easily appeal to a high schooler such as myself.
Given the year of its release, I wasn’t surprised that Two Lefts fit satisfactorily within all of these parameters. It has that quirky, upbeat pop punk sound remniscent of Mae or mid-2000s Blink 182 (think I Miss You era). Literal lyrics run rampant on almost every track, conversational call-and-response lyrics dominate Hoopes I Did it Again, and heartache accompanies cynicism throughout the album, but most notably on Overthinking and Falling Out.
Though this is a genre I am no longer vested in, listening to Two Lefts felt a a bit nostalgic. I used to listen to music like this with great frequency. I’m not going to lie, people. For a time, I was a MASSIVE Dashboard Confessional fan. My hair would be everywhere as I cried about chasing the ghost of a good thing into my pillow. Shoot, I still listen to them occasionally because nostalgia is such a potent feeling.
Two Lefts also allowed me to conjure up nostalgia involving Kara. She used to do this bouncy thing when she danced. She’d hear a song she’d like and her head would start to bounce, followed by the rest of her body. Eventually, she’d look over in my direction, or whomever might be nearby, to see if they too were in a dance-y, bounce-y kind of mood. I saw Kara bounce-dancing in my head at multiple points throughout listening to Two Lefts. The album is very upbeat, much like Kara used to be. It’s no wonder she was a Relient K fan.
Kara also had a knack for picking out the best lyrics in a song. Maybe she really liked the lyric “I just fall apart because that’s my trademark” or “ You’re not the only one terrified of life from end to end.”
So I wont sugarcoat this, as I intend for this blog to be an effort in honesty as much as it is an effort in human understanding: I wasn’t the biggest fan of Two Lefts. The song Mood Ring was probably the lowest point on the album for me, as it generalizes women and trivializes mental health. This shouldn’t be too surprising, though. As mentioned, this sort of album is somewhat time-bound. Complex issues such as these are often internalized through the mind of an unfamiliar youngperson OR are written explicitly for such audiences. Like disco was for the seventies, emo pop punk is the hallmark of the first decade of the new millenium, and with it comes certain parameters.
There were highlights, however, such as the intro to Over Thinking, the drum/piano breakdown on Falling Out, and the sexy mix on the acoustic guitar on Getting Into You. I’m definitely comfortable with admitting that the drummer was by far my favorite part of this listening experience. Dude is a beast.
What might make readers laugh is that my two favorite songs, I Am Understood and Getting Into You, were probably the only two songs on the album that briefly touch on Christianity. I really dug the instrumentation on these songs...as well as the honesty. Even though we are worldviews apart, I can still dig some deeply sincere songwriting. If anything, I wish Relient K would be more blatant about their beliefs. They take the easy route - a route that too many Christian crossover artists take - by making their more spiritual songs sound like they could double as love songs. I say “screw that.” If you believe in something - if it truly defines who you are and you want to devote a part of your art in honor of that belief - be even MORE honest.
Once more, much thanks to Gabriel for today’s recommendation. I enjoyed reflecting on a beautiful friendship I once had.
See you tomorrow...and thanks for taking part in my creative process, reader.
