Review Summary: I absolutely adore this album, it was one of my first folk punk experiences, and it will always be a full-album listen for me.
I recommend this to anyone, it is really just an original trip, and it does not sound fake at all, the production is excelle
Defiance, Ohio is:
Geoff – Guitar, Vocals
Ryan – Upright Bass, Vocals
Will – Harmonica, Guitar, Drums, Vocals
BZ – Violin, Drums, Vocals
Theo – Guitar, Drums
Sherri – Guitar, Banjo, Drums, Vocals
*Bear with me, first review
Human emotions run haywire in all of us, we all express it in different ways. This band does it in one of the most unique, and artistic ways possible. From the feeling you get when you and a friend are going separate ways, to the feeling you get when you find out the U.S. has spent millions of dollars on useless toys. After emotions have changed, you grow, it is in our nature. Realizing how you have grown as a person is one of the most useful traits one can inherit, and to be able to write about it lyrically and musically in a passionate way is very promising to the writer and the listener. After listening to this album you should have a new idea of how a person can feel from time to time, but in the end, you will always have something to look forward to. Something or someone will always be there.
Defiance, Ohio is kind of a strange name for a band. Amiright? It is a real city, in Ohio – they are from Bloomington, Indiana though. It is said their name is stemmed from the fact that they like the word Defiance in a U.S. city name. Anarchism is ‘err where. You will catch some lines about the government, and how they think there should be nothing in the way of human nature. Then other times; you will catch a line about love and the feeling of being lonely. They generally go from politics to emotions, nothing else. It is what matters to them though, and you can really tell through the emotion of the music.
This is a band using a stand up cello, a banjo, a harmonica, and a violin. It is weird thinking about folk music from Indiana being some of your favorite music, I feel unbelievably white. (Try not to think about that though) They really mesh everything together well, after one listen …. Hooked.
To influence the readers’ growing ideas on what every song means, I would love to give some of my own personal outlook on what each song has meant or seems like it means. I always liked having people’s outlook on a song, and I will try to give you my best explanation. Don’t worry, I know everyone has a different opinion on what a song means, and that sometimes the artist wants you to perceive their songs in your own single thoughts. If you feel this way also, please just scroll past the sequenced song reviews.
Share What ‘Ya Got starts out with ‘hey Kathleen, are you hungry?’ It starts out with lyrics that sound like a love song. “Are you angry, are you searching for a better way?” As the song progresses you see no signs of this, because you hear politicians. “smoke and drink the world away ’cause what the politicians say won’t answer any of my questions like why am I angry….” If you have ever gotten that feeling like what do I really matter in this world, and what is my place as a citizen, their asking the exact same thing, it is not a good feeling, and the emotion in the vocals really explain this. You have no folk influence in this song yet, but oh you will see. 5/5
’This time, this year’ This song gives off the feeling of how your own city and the people in it are the only ones that matter to you when you do not think you will leave, when you think your life will be there forever. You need to make the best of your life, and have the best time possible because after your gone, there is just more people doing the same exact thing, you are just another person experiencing life in that place. “This time, this year, is bigger than us, it goes on long after we're gone! This town has taken it all out of us, made us look at our lives through new eyes” Going to back about how after you experience an emotion you grow. They grew, and they realized what was happening, they were seeing how what they felt in that city would make them grow in many different ways – and they would eventually leave, but it seems like they did not feel that way when they wrote this song. At about (1:18) the song explodes into the folk punk they are known for, and you really get the first taste of their violin. 5/5
’I’m just going to leave...’ is definitely a song about how when things really blow, you want to leave. No self pride, no hope, sick of the same old *** every single day. Having a horrible day at work also ties in. It is for the ones who move mountains everyday, and feel like their getting nothing from it. This song and the first song of the album really remind me of Against Me! Because of how they sing, and how they change the tempo. (They are nothing alike, really..) 4/5
‘Chads Favorite Song’ Boy do they hate that place..
”*** this city, and *** this filthy air. Let's build a-frames in the woods and just live there. We'll all eat berries and build fires every night and forget this mistake we call modern life.” Told you. 4/5
’I don’t want solidarity if it means holding hands with you’ is one of the catchiest songs on the album. Anyone who is a hardcore listener of Defiance, Ohio will probably recommend you this song. It is punk, and it is passionate. It is a song all about having different political stances between a relationship, and how it can make or break the love.
Some really great lyrics in this song. 5/5
’Drinking Song’ Here is where love comes from with these guys! You do not expect this album thus far to give such a song. It is a violin and drum duo up until about (0:55) and then the vocals bust in. “say "we're finished." say, "we're sorry." say, "we're scared there's this weight we can't carry." say, "I'm lonely, and frustrated, and I'm ready to be here to hear that."” They are talking about drinking, and how such an addiction is hard to stop. Drinking is fun and all, but stopping must be horrible. You can tell with this song, honestly. It will go from happy to heartbreakingly honest in both the vocals and in the music in seconds. 5/5
’Bikes + Bridges’ “Any relationship that matters - a friendship, a family, a romance, a band - anything - is a perilous and fragile thing because along with all the amazing experiences and creations that can come from something so intimate and exhausting comes the possibility for things to crumble and shatter or whither and die. When that happens, it's easy to forget what was precious amidst all the disaster. We should always carry our history with us but never let it bury us.” - Defiance, Ohio.
This song is really emotional to me, because of how the vocals overlap the violin and vice versa. The folk is there, the heart is there, and it just really shows what this band is all about. 5/5 on this song.
’Sweet Dudes and Sweet Ladies’ I recommend this song, to anyone who wants to hear just one song. It is really great. 5/5.
”This is a song I felt like it was really important for me to write. It’s about several things. But mostly it's about being honest with the people close to you about your romantic feelings and/or the lack of feelings. Sometimes that is so much more difficult than we can even imagine. sometimes I struggle with my sexuality, at times i have no idea what it is i want, sometimes i fear rejection, sometimes I just have trouble having the courage to express myself about something that makes me feel so naked. i have lost a lot in my life because of these fears, and although facing them head on may not make the outcome any better.. It’s definitely better to be done with it and move on. And if things are good, if people have the same feelings, then see that they are celebrated, that we move on and make the most of the short time two people may have together. That we are not afraid of what people around us think. That also means respecting the intense feelings involved in the personal relationships of friends close to me... and to trying not be judgmental, trying not put my own rationalizations into their lives... because it is up to them, and more than anything I want them to be as happy as they can be.” – Defiance, Ohio. 5/5
’Lullabies’ “I imagine this song being sung to a child sleeping out and looking up at the stars and realizing how large and incredible the world is. i used to get scared looking up at the stars at night because it was like looking at billions of other worlds ... it's easy to get so caught up in the gears of life (work, school, obligations, responsibilities) that we lost any sort of creative ambition or desire for ridiculous adventures, and so the only time we have to imagine is when we sleep. i originally had a line in the song that said "its so sad to only dream when you sleep," and i really think it's true. Maybe if we allowed ourselves the time to take a step back and realize how wonderful our world can be (if we stop destroying it that is) we could dream up all kinds of things for ourselves.” 4/5
’Old Dead Tree’ More of a depressing song, it has whistling that goes with the musicianship in the beginning. Seems like it is about how your city can make or break the person you are/want to be. 3/5
’Road Signs Always Look Better Looking Over Your Shoulder’ This is the best song on the album, no doubt. Defiance, Ohio are this song. This song means pretty much everything it says. Just getting in your car and leaving your old, ***ty life behind and starting a new one. Please, for the love of god, listen to this song. The emotion is amazing. This is more touching than my priest. Sry. (seriously, though.) 5/5
’Response to Griot’ What a great song, it can really mean anything, honestly every time I listen I feel something different. 5/5
‘Sometimes Motion’ It is about realizing that the life that you live is the one that you choose - that you can be happy with that life, or you can choose a different one, but you can not do either of those things without first accepting what it is that your life has become. The idea of this song is what gives it the love from me. Great lyrics. 4/5
’Promises’ The last track of the album, no outro or anything, but it is a great catchy song. It ends pretty abruptly, and you feel like you have just been whipped a learnin’. This song is about breaking promises constantly, and how fake you feel after breaking them. It is almost like one last message before their air time is over, just one more thing to get out. To say they are sorry. 5/5
