Alex Bleeker gives us a pair of bipolar breakup songs. Both feature melodies and arrangements that
are borderline feel-good folkie. But the
words reveal a person who needs to increase his Seroquel dosage.
In These Days (2010) we see a man who has dumped his girlfriend and is walking away with a springy step. But like Wile E. Coyote, he has already walked beyond the edge of the cliff. And he will keep walking forward until he looks down and sees only hot air supporting his emotional weight. At which point he will plunge into free fall and create an insignificant poof of dust when he hits bottom.
Words like "I've got better things to do than spend my time running after you" sound great in daylight. Wait until you are awake at 3AM, searching the shadows for an excuse to send that text message. You know the one I'm talking about.
Don't Look Down (2013) finds our friend in the role of dumpee, begging the dumper not to forget him, not to forget that once she loved him. “Don’t look back on the way we met ... Don’t retract all the things you said.”
In These Days (2010) we see a man who has dumped his girlfriend and is walking away with a springy step. But like Wile E. Coyote, he has already walked beyond the edge of the cliff. And he will keep walking forward until he looks down and sees only hot air supporting his emotional weight. At which point he will plunge into free fall and create an insignificant poof of dust when he hits bottom.
Words like "I've got better things to do than spend my time running after you" sound great in daylight. Wait until you are awake at 3AM, searching the shadows for an excuse to send that text message. You know the one I'm talking about.
Don't Look Down (2013) finds our friend in the role of dumpee, begging the dumper not to forget him, not to forget that once she loved him. “Don’t look back on the way we met ... Don’t retract all the things you said.”
Hey I know I was a complete jerk who was always trying to kill you. But
remember that time the anvil fell on my head? Remember how I collapsed down like an accordion? God those were fun times! And when you have fulfilled your dream of becoming The World’s
Most Self-Actualized Woman and I am still crumpled up in my Desert of
Self-Pity, please don’t look down on me.
Though I know it will be difficult not to look down on me when you are
standing at the top of the cliff and I am lying broken below you as the shadow
of that boulder that I launched from the catapult blots out the sun and I await
its final, inevitable, crushing blow.
Backslash7 rating for These Days and Don’t Look Down: Three
sides of the triangle!!! But watch out for
falling anvils.
Don’t Look Down will be available in May on Alex Bleeker and the Freaks’ new album, How Far Away, from Woodist Records.
These Days is available on iTunes.
ALEX BLEEKER & THE FREAKS TOUR DATES
Wed-Mar-13 – Austin, TX – Red 7 – Force Field / Stones Throw (SXSW)
Wed-Mar-13 – Austin, TX – Empire Control Room – Megablaag (SXSW)
Thu-Mar-14 – Austin, TX – Spider House Ballroom – KVRXPlosion (SXSW)
Sat-Mar-16 – Austin, TX – Beerland – Ground Control Touring Party (SXSW)
Sun-Mar-17 – Dallas, TX – Spillover Fest
Tue-Mar-19 – Oxford, MS – Lamar Lounge
Wed-Mar-20 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
Thu-Mar-21 – Boone, NC – Boone Saloon
Fri-Mar-22 – Athens, GA – Farm 255
Sat-Mar-23 – Greenville, NC – Spazz Fest
Wed-Apr-3 – New Haven, CT – BAR Nightclub (Free show with Ex Cops)
Fri-Apr-5 – Harrisonburg, VA – MACRoCk Festival
April 11-13 – Calgary, AB – MTT Fest
ALEX BLEEKER & THE FREAKS TOUR DATES
Wed-Mar-13 – Austin, TX – Red 7 – Force Field / Stones Throw (SXSW)
Wed-Mar-13 – Austin, TX – Empire Control Room – Megablaag (SXSW)
Thu-Mar-14 – Austin, TX – Spider House Ballroom – KVRXPlosion (SXSW)
Sat-Mar-16 – Austin, TX – Beerland – Ground Control Touring Party (SXSW)
Sun-Mar-17 – Dallas, TX – Spillover Fest
Tue-Mar-19 – Oxford, MS – Lamar Lounge
Wed-Mar-20 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
Thu-Mar-21 – Boone, NC – Boone Saloon
Fri-Mar-22 – Athens, GA – Farm 255
Sat-Mar-23 – Greenville, NC – Spazz Fest
Wed-Apr-3 – New Haven, CT – BAR Nightclub (Free show with Ex Cops)
Fri-Apr-5 – Harrisonburg, VA – MACRoCk Festival
April 11-13 – Calgary, AB – MTT Fest