Golden Mixtape

One of the worst parts of college was the pretentious people who thought there was deeper meaning in everything. Shakespeare made the curtain blue? That must mean he was abandoned as a kid. Truth is you don’t know what that dude in the puffy collar was thinking; all we know is what we read and are left with countless interpretations. But as I sat down with CityCop’s Seasons I found my notes mirroring those of said people. Words like “symbolism” and “irony” cascaded down the page and I thought, shit…it’s just human nature to pick things apart, isn’t it? In the grand scheme, CityCop hasn’t written the next “Four Seasons,” just a record that’s got heavy vocals, a punk mentality and a lot of emotion tossed about, so writing anything smug sounding that’d end up in latest Hipster Rag would be kind of weird.

Seasons does have all four, but starts with a feathered friend. When “Bluebird” begins, one not familiar with the band might think it’s a spoken word album as a monologue takes place over calm music. It then takes an aggressive turn, but ends the same place it began. It’s as if the person had a manic mental spasm.

In “Spring” you’d expect an undertone of change since that’s when nature is born again, nope. The irony in this comes with one simple line, “I’ll never change.” Much like in reality, I mentally skipped “Summer” each time. While this song wasn’t on top of my taste compared to the rest, it might have something to do with it being called “Summer,” my least favorite of the time of year.

Towards the end of the record and year comes “Fall.” It had a weird, unexpected Latin like intro that made me perk up after the summer was over. And much like the end of the year when we’re looking forward to starting anew, “Winter” pays tribute to that sentiment with “…put the past behind me.”

I didn’t want to go into the symbolism of the “Bluebird,” because I was never that great at those exercises, so we’ll move on. When CityCop started and the anger was ever present in the music, I backtracked a month or so and instantly knew which band to put them next to. If you’re a fan of Indian Taker and/or Pentimento, then CityCop’s Seasons belongs in your iPod, so get it now on Flannel Gurl Records.