If
there is a soundtrack to my turning eighteen, it would have to be Streetlight
Manifesto’s Somewhere in the Between.
Streetlight’s extremely technical yet thoroughly delicious brand of
ska-folk-punk was the dominant sound of my last year of high school. The
complex, multifaceted, and most of all catchy compositions inspired me to shoot
beyond power chord progressions and straightforward lyrics in my own music, sensibilities
that continue to inform my own writing.
Truly,
Somewhere in the Between was a pivotal
listen for me in those days. And yet, with my eventual distancing from ska, a
solid five years had passed since I had actually listened to it front to back.
So when I shoved the scratched, burned copy into my car’s CD player a month
ago, I felt a twinge of fear that perhaps I wouldn’t really like it, or even
understand it, anymore. Yet as the explosive first notes of “We Will Fall Together” pealed through my speakers, my anxieties dropped to the floor as the
glory that is Streetlight washed over me.
Though they try their hardest to come off as uncaring goofballs, Streetlight
Manifesto is an act unfamiliar with the term “good enough,” instead whittling
down each composition until it as cerebral as it is beautiful. These seven men
load each song with nuance, the rhythm section peppering in syncopated hits and
massive dynamic shifts until every song plays like a symphony. The four-piece
horn section furthers this by taking lead singer Tomas Kalnoky’s hummed suggestions and turning them into intense collages of harmony and
counterpoint. On top of all this musical majesty, every member of the band
contributes to the singing in some way, taking the ska cliché of gang vocals
and elevating it to the echelon of a punk choir.
The
band’s technical approach alone on Somewhere
in the Between is enough to get the head spinning, but Streetlight also chooses
to explore a plethora of sound palates. Refusing to be labeled as simply ska,
they instead give the listener a veritable buffet of musical flavors: Pete
McCullough’s running bass lines suggest a heavy jazz influence, while Kalnoky’s
raking guitar chords simultaneously draw from punk and Middle-Eastern folk. The
horn section’s melodic structures go even farther, calling to mind the music of
gypsies in “We Will Fall Together” or the early days of big band with “The Blonde Lead the Blind.” As Kalnoky puts it, he wanted Somewhere in the Between to breathe with “a world influence,”
and with seven members exploring seven different musical backgrounds, they easily succeed in unearthing a whole new continent of sound.
One
of the best examples of this married complexity and catchiness on Somewhere in the Between is the
thunderous “Would You Be Impressed?” Sporting a Spanish influence in the
composition, Streetlight races like a bull through each verse. Chris Thatcher’s
snare drum blasts as he holds the insistently insane rhythm at a speed that
would spell death for a less-cohesive band. The song eschews a traditional
chorus, opting instead to end each verse with the punctually shouted line “It’s not my fault,” intermingled with ever-varying horn arrangements that explode in
juxtaposition with the vocals. Virtually no part of the song features a true
repeat, the band instead taking each idea and turning it on its head the next
time it occurs, suggesting continuity while continually evolving. “Would You Be
Impressed?” flaunts every aspect of Streetlight worth acknowledging, an
intricate masterpiece that truly blooms in the ear.
The
instrumentation on Somewhere in the
Between received borderline obsessive attention in its creation, and the
lyrics are no different. As his break-neck singing style demands, Tomas Kalnoky
fills each song with tons of lyrics, but not a single word seems facetious or
accidental. He wields both repetition and alliteration with the skill of a
famed poet, such as in the vehement line “So fuck the flocks of sheep that keep amassing masses / asses being led so far astray.” Additionally, his
continuous use of small, gripping refrains, such as “mercy, mercy, mercy me”
in “Watch It Crash,” create a constant stream of moments for his listeners to
latch onto, so that no matter how long or complex the tune, some part is
guaranteed to seize both attention and heart. And even when his lines appear to
make no sense—“Little Miss Dismiss cannot miss like a detuned radio”—well,
damn, they sure are fun to sing.
Each
song on Somewhere in the Between is
as distinguished as a snowflake, yet some Kalnoky also manages to tie them all
together thematically. A major motif in his writing involves man’s destiny to
fail: “Forty Days” references the Fall of Man with the line “What a way to begin, we inherit sin,” while “Down, Down, Down to Mephisto’s Café” calls
on the futility of man’s battle against his nature: “No matter what we do we’ll be wrong.” Another prevalent image is that of a sinking ship,
referenced in both the last two tracks on the record as well as
visually in the music video for “We Will Fall Together.”
With
his effective synthesis of flourish, depth, and honesty, Tomas Kalnoky proves
himself to be a powerful writer, and no song says it better than the album’s
opus “The Receiving End of it All.” Above a maelstrom of heady instrumentation
and perhaps the best breakdown ever written, Kalnoky tears through a tale of
lost connection, reminding his dear “Marigold” that “though sour grapes will turn to wine, it’s all just vinegar with time.” He flirts with the image of
an innocent romance fading away with the lines “We used to be in love (my love!) but now we’re just in like,” before finally placing the blame on
himself: “When you needed someone most, I wasn’t there, I wasn’t even…” The
entire troupe that is Streetlight pours their broken hearts into the performance
of “The Receiving End of it All,” backing Kalnoky’s hectic, earnest tale with
their own sincerity to create a song that to this day gives me chills with each
listen.
After returning to this record like a
prodigal son, I can’t believe how silly I was to think it would mean anything
less to me. Somewhere in the Between
is a phenomenal album, ten intensely crafted songs that awaken mind and body
with their energy and intelligence. And even now, after a month of non-stop
spinning, I am still discovering little moments of nuance or integrity, moments
I had missed again and again in my younger years. Somewhere in the Between remains a seminal record for me; I did not
have to grow to love it, and with the way it continually proves its worth and
wonder, that will never change.
Tunes to Check Out:
1) The Receiving End of it All
