"Our parents got us a dog so we could learn about loss. The slow education," sings Cymbals Eat Guitars frontman Joe D'Agostino on "Chambers." It's a line that kind of sums up the whole record. On a larger scale than simply owning a dog, life is one slow education about loss; and Lose -- the third full-length from this NY / NJ band -- addresses that process throughout its nine songs.
Joe D'Agostino lost his friend and musical collaborator Benjamin High in 2007 when the two were still in their teens. Lose deals directly with that on several tracks, but the record also hits upon more general forms of loss -- youth, idealism -- and the fear of losses that are still to come. But the album isn't a dirge. While Lose still shows some of the experimentalism of early Cymbals Eat Guitars, many of the songs include things like choruses and even a hook or two that make this the most accessible album in the CEG discography. That's a good choice. D'Agostino and the band have a lot to say here, and they've made a record that makes you want to hang around and listen.
"Jackson" opens the record with some simple piano as it builds to the swirling guitars and "oooh oooh"s of the full band. D'Agostino sings of keeping up an appearance of normalcy following a loss, but going through life with "the space sickness" "while we wait for the weightlessness." "Warning" is a speedy, upbeat-sounding rocker anchored by the "ba ba ba" hook at the end of each verse. It also contains lyrics like "The shape of true love is terrifying enough" and "Friendship is the biggest myth."
"XR" -- appropriately hyperactive, almost Pogues-y with its percussion and harmonica -- will touch anyone who has lost a friend from their youth: "And then, out of nowhere, the smell of his basement." Like Superchunk's I Hate Music -- and, come to think of it, there are moments when D'Agostino sounds a little like Mac McCaughan on Lose -- "XR" also contains the sobering realization that music isn't going to save you and be the answer to everything like you thought it would when you were a kid. The song also includes one of the album's references to The Wrens, a New Jersey band that has had a few things of their own to say about the loss of youth and innocence.
The Wrens come up again in the epic "Laramie" -- synths, soaring guitar feedback -- as D'Agostino confesses to "Chasing the chills I felt when I was eighteen." Chills like those that come, maybe, when singing a dueling vocals version of The Wrens' "I Guess We're Done" when on a long car ride with your buddy.
"Chambers" does capture a lot of what I think Lose is about. Over the course of its less than four minutes it doesn't just hit upon the idea of life's slow education about loss. It doesn't just express the fear of losses still to come: "The panic sets in, though nothing's happened yet." But it makes an excellent point about how these feelings are bound to change as that education continues. "Here's what it felt like when I was 25," sings the 25 year old D'Agostino, declaring that Lose is simply a document of where he is today, where he's at on the path of his slow education. All of this comes delivered in an 80s power pop sounding package featuring synths and some spacious guitar and vocals.
Cymbals Eat Guitars combine some more conventional song structures with D'Agostino's now more personal lyrics on Lose, making it a record -- like The Wrens' The Meadowlands -- that spoke to me personally on the first listen. I think it's going to be one of those records -- like The Meadowlands -- that I can come back to over the years again, again, and again. As my own slow education continues, I'm sure I'll continue to find things here that speak to me.
Cymbals Eat Guitars start a tour with Bob Mould this Friday at Philadelphia's Theater of The Living Arts. Then, they're in New York with Mould for three dates: Bowery Ballroom on 9/10 and 9/11, MHOW on 9/13. Do yourself a favor and try to catch one of the shows. Not only is Bob Mould... ...well, Bob Mould... but also seeing the songs on Lose performed live gives them added context and dimension.
Lose is out now on Barsuk Records.
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