Review Summary: So I guess I'll just exist, it's all I can do.
Living is such a fragile concept.
Existing is such a fragile concept. The idea that anything that you’ve ever known, and ever will know could (and most likely will) be erased like nothing
is such a fragile concept. The entire idea that revolves around
Is Survived By seems to really be the realization and coming to terms of this such concept. What separates
Is Survived By from its contemporaries, is its absence of nihilism. The record is dripping with realistic ideologies and honest passion from frontman and sole lyricist Jeremy Bolm. The record opens with a powerful drum fill from Elliot Babin, into Bolm shouting at full power,
“I was once asked how I’d like to be remembered and I simply smiled and said ‘I’d rather stay forever.’ It was possibly my loudest cliché but felt better than just walking away.” which pretty much sets the stage for what is to come. The record feels like a sudden realization of, well,
realization. The painful honesty that Bolm displays on the record is rivaled by no other record in recent times, and tracks like “Social Caterpillar”, “To Write Content”, as well as the title track feel like cries for help, as Jeremy is trying to cling onto that idea of being remembered for something, that taste of immortality that we’ve all strived for in one way or another.
It’s more than what’s in Jeremy’s haunting, life-affirming lyrical messages here. The vast and seemingly infinite sonic space established by producer Brad Wood, as well as each individual member of the band respectively, only adds to the atmosphere of the record. The triumphant guitar tones and heart wrenching chords established by Nick Steinhardt and Clayton Stevens paint a vast soundscape invoking imagery of oceanic relations to somewhat coffee shop horrors and late night hospital visits. There’s a vision in not only Jeremy’s eyes but within the other members of the band as well. The triumphant rhythm work from Elliot Babin and Tyler Kirby bring as much emotion and technicality as possible while still sounding fluid and connected. Babin gives some of his best performances with spastic yet incredibly dynamic performances on songs like “DNA” and “Non Fiction”. Kirby also provides a solid anchor to bring the band back down from the stratosphere with beautiful tone, evident on songs like “Steps” as well as the aforementioned “DNA”. The production and mixing is done in a way that it doesn’t feel overbearing by any means, just clean enough in the way that it’s honest, but not too clean to the point of pretentiousness. An album that can invoke so many pieces of imagery with almost apocalyptic tendencies, especially with the climax of the title track and subsequent end of the album, is a feat i’ve yet to see accomplished besides on an album akin to
F#A#Infinity. The dynamics of some of these songs are also fairly new ventures for the band. “Non Fiction” is more of a post-rock centric piece, with soft almost twinkly guitar display as Jeremy softly makes his way through a cathartic spoken word piece, centered around the overall concept of the album stating
“Every moment can’t remain and every life won’t stay the same. With time comes a layer of rust and our bones will turn to dust. Everyone will fall away and every season is built on change. With time the paint will peel and all sense will lose it’s feel. Every cloth will start to fray and every night will become day. With time a mold will form and what’s cold can become warm. Every love can’t always stay and the dead will soon decay. With time we’ll all be gone but how you lived can live on.” in a way to reaffirm our fate and how we can live on if we decide; which could never be put on an album like
To The Beat of a Dead Horse. It just wasn’t necessarily in the cards for them to be able to even do so. That’s okay though, that just makes the maturity and exploration found on
Is Survived By even more prominent.
But it’s not the engaging, alluring, and triumphant instrumentation, coupled with brilliant harmonies, and brutally honest vocal delivery that makes
Is Survived By so astounding. It’s the message and the measures it takes to try and spread that message as humble yet intense as possible. Even now, after being in love with this album for years at this point, I’m still trying to figure out what it means to me. I guess the beauty in it is that it’s changing with time. Maybe it’s the fact that us as humans all strive for some sense of responsibility to validate what we think of ourselves, to see if we’re as mature as we make ourselves out to be in our own head. When really, there’s nothing to prove to anyone, not even ourselves. There’s no such thing as
living really, we all just exist. There’s nothing more than what we see of ourselves, and this gorgeously flawed world around us. And the ways that we all perceive that is the real beauty in it all. The message of
Is Survived By isn’t nihilistic by any means. If anything, it’s the opposite. It’s about realizing your surroundings. Realizing who you are, as well as who you want to be, and taking into account what you can do as the intricate and unique human being that you are.
Is Survived By is about what it means to be alive, and most importantly, doing all you can with what you are provided in life. It’s about spreading the word. It’s about making this world not as a cold, heartless, and dying place as it sometimes appears to be.
”So write a song that everyone can sing along to, so when you’re gone, you can live on, they won’t forget you.
