Pretty much every time Boston-based Dear Leader releases a new album, one of their songs makes my year end list. This year is no different. 2009’s Stay Epic is a more melancholy album, reflecting (I think) the melancholy of a post-Obama election where the realities of governing, and the time and effort required to overcome the inertia of an electorate beaten down by a crappy economy.
It’s a slower album, without anything that breaks out quite as much as “Everyone Looks Better in the Dark“, but it has some great tunes.
Tops is this one.
Barbarians — Dear Leader
Is it weird that We Were Promised Jet Packs reminds me of Aaron Perrino? "It's Thunder and It's Lighting" builds and crescendoes, and then the Scottish dude yells, and he might as well be Aaron Perrino at that point. You'll probably not agree, but I like "It's Thunder and It's Lightining" for the same reason I like "Back to the Cradle."
Oh, I also like "Barbarians," too, even though there's no yelling. "Show me a way / it's ok / it's just not enough … " Solid.
I had not made that connection, but that's probably a major reason I really dig the We Were Promised Jetpacks album.
Good call.