Golden Mixtape

You know that feeling when your head is pounding and you’re a little sleepy, but Cruel Intentions starts and you have to stay up to watch till 1am to watch? That’s my reality as I look over my notes from my afternoon of Old Rules’ Sad Songs, and during commercials I try to decipher what I was trying to say from hours ago. I had a theory about Sad Songs running through my head earlier about the essence of this record that has the grime of grunge but is wrapped with emotion at the same time, and I’m going to try and make sense of it before my mental last call.

Before I get to the theory, I have to say all three songs were more mad than sad. Each contained a pissed off feeling. “Acquaintances” seemed to be about parting ways with someone. “Dwell” was the idea of the past eating at long after the break-up, indicated by lines like “I can’t get over this feeling” and the imagery that those feelings were “pulling at skin.” Last on the EP came “Stagnant,” this one didn’t resolve anything in this story. Stepping away from the idea behind the lyrics and meaning of the record for a second and focusing on the musical side, “Stagnant” was the only one of the three that played like an individual.

The whole time Sad Songs played I looked at the titles and thought their order seemed like they were telling a story all on their own. Acquaintances dwelling stagnant could be seen as people who know one another holding onto old shit leads to nothing. Could I have stumbled upon the tagline of the record? If anyone in Old Rules reads this…Did I figure it out? Did my BA education crack the code? Maybe not, I did go to a state school, nothing fancy.

There’s 15 minutes until Sebastian meets his maker and I am about to wrap up this review of Old Rules Sad Songs that took a semi-scholarly turn. The trio of songs might have been sad when it came to the idea of them, but while listening an anger comes across that fans of Hot Water Music and Pentimento (old stuff) will notice and appreciate. Sad Songs is out now, so check it and Old Rules out.