Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LX--The Low Anthem: The Ballad of the Broken Bones

It's not often that Friday Night Jukebox features a band from Rhode Island--well, actually, never--but tonight we will.  And there's a good chance it'll be the last time for a while--the list of artists from Rhode Island is neither long nor well known by me.

Not so The Low Anthem, though.  Formed in 2006 in Providence, Brown University students Ben Knox Miller and John Prystowsky have been the core of the band since its inception with various other musicians added to the mix.  Their second album, What the Crow Brings (whence this week's tune), was a DIY recording if ever there was one--the band self released the album, and even dumpster dived for empty cereal boxes which they created silksceens for and turned into LP sleeves.

Another reason why devoting so much of the last forty years of my life to music has most assuredly not been a waste--dumpster diving for empty cereal boxes?  How much do you have to love what you do to do that?

Alas, their love has not turned into commercial success.  The Low Anthem have released four albums, exactly one of which has cracked the Billboard charts, and that at #198 (probably not with a bullet, but we can dream....).  Nevertheless, they tour continuously and seem to have carved out a fine niche for themselves.

I'd like to tell you what "The Ballad of the Broken Bones" is about, but I really have no idea.  At times I've thought it was about suffering in silence, redemption, healing, and/or the search for inner peace and they all may or may not be right.  I will tell you this:  any song that sings lovingly of the dreams the moon can bring and the healing powers of the oceans is A-OK in my book.  The music is sparse, merely an acoustic guitar, an organ, and (because it happens so often in pop music) a clarinet, but the three provide the soothing canvas for Miller's artful vocals which are nothing short of redemptive in themselves.  He sings with an understated air, the voice of a man who has reached a place where the healing can begin and he's only too ready for its forgiveness--or as he sings, "...And over the world am I."  All in all, what you have is one of those magical nuggets of music that makes you extremely grateful that your Mom met your Dad so you can be here to enjoy it.

Cheat sheet:  It's a toss up this week between "The poets are going insane" and "'Cause I've been all over the whole goddamn world and over the world am I."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee