Archie Star Carry Me Home
Pat D'Andrea (now going by Johnny D'Andrea) formed Archie Star, with his sister. The band released their album, Carry Me Home in November 2008. Nick Scalise and Greg Shanahan are now part of.
Verse Tonight, I say we just get out of this town Let's go to Seattle, watch rain fall to the ground And on our tongues 'I love you's' run into each other But could i really trust her? She said, 'Hey baby baby boy, why you always look so sad?
Emo has never been a genre to earn great respect in the music industry. I myself have never been too interested. Maybe it’s the somber colored clothing, the abundance of piercings or the general “mad at the world” attitude that go hand in hand with the enraged genre – I can’t be sure. What I do know is that there is a fine line between emo and emotional.
Sure, emo is meant to be simply a prefix, an industry term to describe music of impassioned emotions. Somewhere along the way emo has carved its own path of severe intensity and extreme anger. But plenty of music can still be emotional without the baggage of emo. Archie Star is the perfect example. The Chicago based band released its debut album Carry Me Home in 2008, but I’d rather discuss their very first demo CD, which was leaked close to ten years ago. Why wait eight years to release a full CD? It’s because Archie Star is emotional rather than emo.
Archie Star Carry Me Home Video
What I mean by this is that emo music is brimming with intensity – fiery passions eager to cry out to the world. Emotional is deeper than that. The five-track demo defines it better than any descriptive words I can muster. Emotional bands aren’t inspired by hasty affections, but rather by deep care and consideration of what they feel inside. Archie Star was hesitant to even release an EP because they didn’t see the reward in spilling their feelings out to the world like an emo band. Archie Star is more heartfelt than that, which is unveiled in their first demo CD.
The most prevalent lyrics we see in music are written about love. This is a commonality that doesn’t have a good underlying truth today. What I mean by this is that most bands don’t deserve to write about love because through their voice it is difficult to hear any distinct connection to the powerful notion of love. Archie Star’s first demo only concerns love and break-up, and it’s refreshing to say that their connections to the popular themes are absolutely effortless. Through the simple, yet powerful piano keys and the soft, background guitar chords it’s clear how truthful Archie Star is in their intimacy. As the singers pick up their voice you can feel the energy of Boys Like Girls combined with the devout emotion of Dashboard Confessional.
Their metaphorical lyrics are a successful attempt at allowing the listener to connect to what they are feeling. “My life’s a rainstorm of ‘I Love You’s.’ I miss you stepping in the puddles.” The singers of Archie Star even master the technique of the occasional vocalization of a “la” or “da.” It doesn’t come off as a Jack Johnson filler to express a pleasant melody. Rather you can hear the divulgence of meaning in them like we’ve heard in Simon & Garfunkel, Van Morrison and more recently James Blunt. Archie Star won’t provide you with a brutal lash at what is wrong with this world.
They have no justified relations to the world of emo. Archie Star’s first demo CD is the perfect soundtrack to a quiet, rainy day stare out the window. It’s what you need when you’re searching for hope and loss. If you’re looking for music that will provide you with remembrance and easy connections to the love in your own life then you’ve found it. Check out “Let’s Get Married,” “Let Go,” “Apologies on Napkins” and the rest of Archie Star’s first demo CD to experience a forgotten world of true emotional artistry.