My Top 22 of 2022: #4

4. American Aquarium - Chicamacomico

I’ve posted a couple of tracks from the latest American Aquarium record this year, and the response has been deafening tumbleweed. Undaunted, here they are again…

I’ve been running in circles most of my days
And I still can’t find a path that keeps me out of my own way
From a long line of losers with bad luck in their veins
Carrying the weight of a lifetime of mistakes

They say time is the cruellest trick of all
You’re riding high, next thing you know
Your back’s against the wall
You can’t take it with you when you go
And we’ve all got to die someday
When it all turns to black, we’ll be left looking back
At all the things we lost along the way

For what it’s worth, the new American Aquarium record is very good. I’ve had it on rotation in the car since June and by now I know the words to every song and sing along at full pelt when they come on. You know, like we used to do when we were kids. This might sound insane (or maybe not: see above) when you consider that songwriter BJ Barham lists the themes of this record thus: “Loss, Death, Darkness, Suicide, Divorce, Losing A Child, Losing A Parent, Losing A Spouse, Addiction, Recovery.”

I swear I’m gonna lose my mind
If I have to hear about God’s plan one more goddamn time
I’m just staring at the sky, begging for an excuse
I never knew hard until I took apart
That room that never got used

Hardly sounds like a rousing singalong collection, does it? And yet, this is an amazingly uplifting album. BJ has obviously been through a lot this past couple of years, but not all the above stories are from personal experience. Barham has a Springsteen-esque skill of creating very believable characters that blur the lines between fiction and autobiography. Even the most emotional songs are tinged with hope though. The key word in that list then is “Recovery”. It’s a hugely cathartic album. Maybe that’s why it meant so much to me.

As I was writing this review, I did something I haven’t done in a long time. I was pootling about on the band’s website, gathering info for some of the above and I noticed they were playing in Manchester in February. On a Friday night! So, I bought a couple of tickets. I don’t do that sort of thing any more, and I certainly can’t afford it. I might not even go. But I wanted to give something back to American Aquarium, because they’ve certainly given me a great deal over the past couple of years. More than most, they understand the cathartic power of music.

It was a spiritual change
I’m no longer the same, I’ve turned a page
In one afternoon, a three minute tune
Was my coming of age