Indy/Folk Rock from Northern California.

7 MP3 Songs in this album (28:56) !
Related styles: Rock: Folk Rock, Folk: Drinking Songs, Type: Experimental

People who are interested in Band of Horses David Bazan Drive-By Truckers should consider this download.


Details:
After two full-length records on Tooth & Nail, the guys in Surrogate (both former members of Number One Gun) decided to expand to a full, four-member band and take things out on their own, self-releasing a new EP, Diamonds and Pearls. It is everything the former records were but better, full of even more moving music and lyrics as Surrogate pour their hearts out in every rock and roll minute of this indie-folk treasure.

These songs are decidedly heavy-hearted, even on the more upbeat tracks like âOld Life,â a snarky tune about having a heart attack and learning ârock and rollâs a young manâs game.â In fact, if I were to put together a playlist of the saddest songs Iâve ever heard, at least two from this release would have a good chance of making the cut: âCanât Go Homeâ and âHope Alaska.â The first is about a terrible break up with a girl and turning to constant alcohol abuse as a solution. At one point the verse sings, âRepetition takes the fun out of abusing substances, and we donât have much fun around here.â The chorus is overflowing with emotion as it cries, âGonna learn when all the bars are open, âcause I can hardly breathe when Iâm alone. And Iâll drink away the memory, âcause I know that I canât go home.â It breaks my heart every time I hear it, which is what I call unbelievably good songwriting. Things do lighten up for the soft and slow âSteal Your Blood,â a delicate love song about never being able to leave a certain girl with a big heart, but the album ends with my other saddest song, âHope Alaska.â This country ballad sings of the humiliation of having to âpay my bills singing songs that someone else wrote, [because] no one round here gives a damn I write my own.â After identifying his cover band venue as a casino, itâs hard to tell if heâs serious when he says âgamblingâs a sin,â but the point of the song is that he wants to get away to a place without all the brokenness, depravity, and monotony of everyday life.

Overall: Diamonds and Pearls is a record of longing. Longing for home. Longing for an end to the emptiness and heartache. Longing for, ultimately, the hope of the Resurrection. It is only hinted at in the language of poetry and metaphor, but like the prospectorâs gold it is glimmering just beneath the surface, covered by all the messy mud and dirt of this earth. And there is plenty of gold to find in this record, but only if youâre willing to get your hands dirty by stepping into the harsh realities of human life.
-Eric Pettersson
www.indievisionmusic.com