Cassette Review // Mount Sharp "That Shadow"

$5 //
Edition of 100 //
https://mountsharp.bandcamp.com/album/that-shadow

Everything about this cassette that can be seen as distorted and rocking can just as easily be seen as beautiful melodies.   Right away, it begins with an urgent type of song that just kicks into that blissed out chorus with cymbal crashes.   Elements of Metric, Polly Scattergood, Element 101, Slothrust and Letters to Cleo can all be found within.  It's that perfet combination of a sound crafted in the 21st Century but with enough credibility to fall back on something from the 1990's.

Lyrically, "That Shadow" says a lot of what I need to hear right now, and what I've needed to hear for the months which I've been listening to it.   Right away with the song "MBA" it's lines like:

We’re not friends now

If it’s convenient I’ll pretend

Lately I’m not sure that we ever really were

It's not even about trying to get away from someone who is a friend that is toxic, but it's just about ridding your life of anything which is toxic.   Sometimes, I feel like that can be tough for people.   A lot of people don't realize what is toxic until it's too late.  I know I had to learn that the hardest way.   But like the song also says:

Well I bet you never ask about me

It bothers me less year to year

In time, we can all learn to forget.   We can all grow and get past whatever is holding us back.   Our faults will not dictate who we are forever.    And if you need help breaking away just keep this line close to your heart:

But you’re not a planet I can leave you whenever

From Nada Surf to Replacements, this has that "Singles" vibe with a modern twist and though you will hopefully listen to this one and be so completely drawn to it musically at first, I do hope that you stay long enough to not only listen to the lyrics but to truly understand and appreciate them.   There is knowledge in these lyrics which has helped me through a lot of this year.  You might not need them now, but you might need them some day and so might I again.