Music Review // The Ladles "Nobody Knew"

The Ladles full length "Springville Sessions" is out April 16th

One of the things which I enjoy about the year 2021 is that it seems like we're slowly making our way back to some sense of normalcy and we don't seem as badly confined as we were in the year 2020.   Maybe I'm just getting used to being on lockdown.   But now, in 2021, regardless of when you might have recorded your music there will always come this part in the back of my mind that thinks it might have been recorded in 2020 or at least about that specific year and the events which happened during it.

"Nobody Knew" offers up the line: "Nobody knew it would hit this hard" and I feel like this is largely related to the global pandemic of the year 2020.  I don't think anyone ever expected something like this to happen and even my dad who is 70 years old said in his lifetime he's never seen anything like this before.   It was a special year, 2020 was, but I can't help but also read into these lyrics as being about the mental health of an individual as well.  Maybe it's just where my mind goes because I'm me, but this song feels like a wellness check, as if perhaps someone is struggling with reasons to live.

When the global pandemic hit, I remember one thing being discussed was what would happen with groups like Alcoholics Anonymous- could they still meet because if they didn't the members might face relapse.  I feel like the pandemic brought about feelings of isolation, fear, worry and overall what a lot of people made it out to be was a very bleak situation, where at one point it just felt like we were all doomed.   These are not good feelings to have in general, but as someone who struggles with mental illness they are even worse.   In that sense, I do feel like "Nobody Knew" doesn't have to be about the pandemic or mental health  but rather it could be about both.

As the strings come into the background of this acoustic song I am reminded of Delta Dart.  It's funny because Delta Dart always had this dark way about this music and though The Ladles feel a bit more upbeat or neutral on this song, it still has a certin gloom to the lyrics of it.  I feel it is important now more than ever to discuss how other people are doing because of the state of the world.   Rather than the title suggests that "Nobody Knew", we need to reach out so that we know how each other are doing.   We have the time now, let's make the most of it.