If you’re in a music class and need to write about an album, may I suggest Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders’ You Are Everything or: The Art of Being Nothing in Particular? Mainly for the word count, but in all seriousness this album was able to peak my interest a few times, although mostly out of fear.
Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders range from music that’d be considered artsy hipsters to that of a movie soundtrack. While listening to “Drone in F#” I spent three minutes growing increasingly nervous as I listened. It’s the song they play in horror movies right after you are brutally murdered and they find your body. The same went for “Claim Your Birthright.” Even with the addition of lyrics…I was still a little creeped out. One second I was spooked, the next I was loving the lyrics instead of fearing them. The music was lighter in “The Turnings of the Earth (and Other Observations),” and the lines “Sometimes I hide inside of my brain. It’s lonely there but its safe” made me connect with the band at hand. From then on it was back and forth between songs that sounded happy-go-lucky and the Debbie Downers like “May Your Gloves Wear Thin (A Sing-Along for the Eternally Wounded).”
Although Hellogoodbye just toured with Paramore, I see them on tour with a band more like Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders, now that they’ve matured or whatever. It’s not exactly the same, but I could definitely see them sharing a SXSW showcase. If you’re into indie music that’s a little psychedelic with some folk tossed in, check out You Are Everything or: The Art of Being Nothing in Particular, out now.
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