Officer's Full Review: Reconstruction Site by The Weakerthans
I first realized I was experiencing some kind of life expanding energetic shift back in late July. I had just celebrated my 27th birthday and I was preparing to go off to a sleepaway camp where I was to be a counselor working for children with disabilities. It was a new career path for me and it marked the first of many abrupt changes in my life. At the time, I felt the impending shift coming, although I couldn't exactly explain what I was feeling or why I felt it. All I knew was that something was shaking up in my life.
Perhaps self-fulfilling, perhaps somehow anticipated, the changes began then and have yet to subside. Picture me flying home unexpectedly and lowering my grandmother into the ground after her unanticipated passing in August... Driving my Dad's car around Minneapolis and not recognizing the city or feeling it as home anymore... Flying into New York City and walking around the construction site where the World Trade Center used to be.
Now, in mid September, I can look back and more clearly see how things have changed for me. Looking ahead, I'm confident there are one or two changes still to come.
You might wonder what any of this has to do with The Weakerthans and their latest album. Nothing, probably. I'm likely just attaching meaning to something that doesn't warrant any. I'd certainly be grasping if I tried to suggest that The Weakerthans' new cd offered any kind of prophetic parallel to the shift I've found myself riding these past weeks. Still, with so much great music having been released during that time (new albums from Neil Young, Frank Black, Michael Franti, Dressy Bessy, and Mates of State to name just a few) I find it curious that the new Weakerthans has been my most consistent and comfortable soundtrack during this time of chaos and unrest. And as I ponder my life with the music playing loudly, it makes sense that this would be the album I'd ponder to.
I think I'll just go ahead and grasp.
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The Weakerthans are (currently) a Winnipeg based four piece that play poetic and reflective songs that defy genre and classification. They are as much punk rock rebels as folk heroes, and they blend equal parts rock, folk and country to redefine the indie landscape they preside over. Their music is original and exciting and quite worth paying attention to.
I first fell in love with the Weakerthans in the Winter of 1997, shortly after they released their first album (Fallow). At the time, I was a devout Propagandhi fan and I bought the cd largely because it was a John K. Samson side project. (Calling The Weakerthans a John K. Samson/Propagandhi side project sounds ridiculous today, but at the time, that's what it looked like to me.) I was quickly smitten with the pared down acoustic sound, insecure vocals and poetic lyrics.
In July, 2000, my then girlfriend gave me the brand new second release (Left and Leaving) for my birthday, then promptly left me in August to pursue a relationship with The Weakerthans' web page designer! Consequently, it took me a long time to be able to actually listen to the album with an objective ear, rather than an emotionally distraught one. It would have been impossible for me not to eventually make peace with that album and give it the credit it deserves as one of the most haunting indie releases of recent memory.
I've been pining away for a third Weakerthans album ever since.
Reconstruction Site came out on August 26th and I picked up my copy the next day. When I put it on for the first time and heard (Manifest) (the opening track), I couldn't help but crack a smile. By the time the title track rolled along, I knew the album would not let me down.
As a whole, Reconstruction Site is less acoustic and more rollicking than previous efforts. On top of that, the themes presented here imply a more hopeful outlook than either "Fallow" or "Left and Leaving" could have offered. Where "Fallow" tends to drift along while contemplating Wintery sorrows, and "Left and Leaving" balances sharp pains with broken defeats, "Reconstruction Site" suggests that just maybe things will get better given time. It's a slight distinction, but one that wasn't lost on this broken hearted listener.
With Reconstruction Site, John seems to realize that perhaps it's not enough to reflect and cry over spilt milk and broken hearts. That there comes a point when even the most shattered person has to pick himself up and at least attempt to make himself whole again. And just maybe he's admitting here that in the process of reconstructing ones life, that failure and defeat no longer hold the romanticized allure that they once did. Giving up may elicit plenty of sadness and sympathetic pity, but it holds nothing to the strength found within healing.
From A New Name for Everything:
When the one-ways collude with the map that you folded wrong,
and the route you abandoned is always the path that you probably should be upon.
When the bottle-cap ashtrays and intimate's ears are all full
with results of your breath, and the threads of your fear are unfurled with the tiniest pull.
One more time, try.
Stand with your hands in your pockets and stare at the smudge on a newspaper sky,
and ask it to rain a new name for everything.
After a three year absence, The Weakerthans have returned more hopeful and optimistic, while maintaining their appeal and without abandoning their fans. And they've succeeded also in creating some of their best work. I heartily recommend this to fans of their previous albums, and to anyone who's looking for an intelligent and thoughtful addition to their music collection. I especially suggest this for fans of Bright Eyes or Dashboard Confessional who may have missed out on the Weakerthans' first efforts. If you haven't listened to this band yet, now is the perfect time to pull up an ear and take notice.
I suspect they're only going to get better from here.
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