The only thing you learn from college movies are partying, scheming and Philosophy 101. Truth be told I never got to take that class, but I can go on to assume it was chalked full of great one liners from the first people who dared to put their thoughts on paper. And years upon years later, TJ Courtney is practicing that same idea with his EP Into The Sky. Each original track, a thinker and the cover, one by a band that 99% of the world would argue is the greatest thing to ever come out of music. I am the 1%.
Why so much emphasis on college when it comes to Into The Sky? Because while listening to it as I sat next to a UCLA attendee, I thought she and her boyfriend might sit in a Starbucks sharing earbuds as TJ offered a soundtrack to the couple who sported faded AC/DC tees and thought they had it all figured it out as seniors. Into The Sky is this troubled sounding rock that has a severity to each statement, which is why it would fare well with the mature college crowd, but would also cross over to the adult who might be barely hitting their mid-thirties but are still shopping at Hollister, while it still fits.
Craig Nicholls’ doppelganger, TJ Courtney beings the record with “Into The Sky” and this line “you wish for something your whole life and can’t get through.” In that moment, you think to yourself, yeah…I have been wishing for such and such, what’s stopping me? There’s an instant link between the TJ and his audience. He is no longer just a voice, but a companion in this place called reality.
One of the mantras my mother lives by that one can assume TJ does as well is the name of the song that is going to make “college” pop back up. “Don’t Worry” began and instantly my MTV generation mind created a video around it; chopped up shots coupled with in and out lights, TJ in a solitary setting, grabbing at the camera every so often. It was the most genuine rock song on the EP and with the treatment my imagination played out, one can only draw comparisons to the tenacious rock of the 90’s college alt scene for this side of TJ Courtney’s style.
What about the cover? Yes, “Ordinary World” is one of the best songs ever written and I love almost every Beatles song when sang by other artists and this one was no different. It was good, but I couldn’t help but let myself fall into singing Fiona Apple’s rendition. So maybe next time he could take on one that hasn’t been covered as much and isn’t going to make people run to Google to search for other versions.
Into the Sky drops at the end of March on the 27th. It’s got powerful vocals that will remind you of Idol winner David Cook (minus the pop), deep thinking and good ol’ rock. And to hold you over until it’s available for your little hands, you can watch the video for the first single “One Day” right here and download it for free over on ap.net.
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