My Dad Is Dead
The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get

4.5
superb

Review

by SandwichBubble USER (83 Reviews)
May 20th, 2021 | 22 replies

Release Date: 1989 | Tracklist

Mark Edwards, the main performer and bandleader of My Dad Is Dead, isn’t happy. You don’t name your band after your own parent’s death and be a very cheerful individual, let’s put it that way. Formed in the mid-80s, My Dad Is Dead had been releasing albums yearly up to this point. And across all of Edwards’ work, there’s a constant focus put on the antisocial and depressive. The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get doesn’t see Edwards break from this trend. You can’t fault the man for consistency, I suppose. And this wouldn’t be the last My Dad Is Dead album to deal with these themes. But in The Taller You Are... feels like a breakthrough. Like years of bottled-up frustration unleashed all at once in a subdued indie rock spectacle.

The Taller You Are... ended up being My Dad Is Dead’s first and only double album when it released on Homestead Records back in 1989. The CD release’s album art is notable for it’s stark black and white horizontal lines, which Edwards chalks up to the record label being “cheap bastards,” but I think that the artwork works in the album’s favor. It gives off the impression of open-book emptiness that matches the music almost too perfectly. For proof, look no further than the lyrics to every song here. You can hear it when Edwards weakly croons “No matter how far I go, I can never get away” on the track “Seven Years.” Or on “Whirlpool,” where Edwards feels like he’s being swallowed underneath raging rapids. My Dad Is Dead is not afraid to bare his soul to the listener. It’s all here, in black and white, for anyone to see. The true beauty of The Taller You Are... is its vulnerability, masked by wonderful guitars and beautiful melodies.

As the album closes with the slow burning “So Much to Lose,” you almost feel like you listened in on something you maybe shouldn’t have. Like you stumbled upon Mark Edwards’ personal diary, with this album as its final entry. The last phrase of the album is repeated as the album fades away into silence: “It's too hard to choose. There’s so much to lose. I just can't make up my mind.”

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My Dad Is Dead The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get

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My Dad Is Dead
The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get