twenty-something

1. 9 Crimes
give my gun away when it's loaded / that alright with you?
if you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it
The album begins with Hannigan's voice, not Rice's, and that's used to great effect -- when he finally joins the song, it's sudden and triumphant. The crimes here, apparently, are varying degrees of infidelities rather than shootings -- the loaded gun's a bit of a symbol, me thinks. I love this track because, no, it's not alright with me either. And sometimes you need to leave these kind of criminals "out with the waste." (Yep, no matter how much I've moved on, I'm still angry about being cheated on more than nine times in three-and-a-half years.)

2. The Animals Were Gone
the window's open now / and the winter settles in
we'll call it Christmas / when the adverts begin
No, it's certainly not a Christmas song, but it does feel... seasonally appropriate. This is a sweet song about a dysfunctional relationship -- Are there any other kinds? Certainly not in Damien's world or mine.

3. Elephant
so why'd you have to lie? / I take it I'm your crutch
the pillow in your pillow case / it's easier to touch
Very similar to "The Blower's Daughter" -- and that's not a bad thing.

4. Rootless Tree
so fuck you, fuck you, fuck you / and all that you do
Immature (one amazon.com reviewer says that it "sounds like the lyrics were written by a 14 year old," which is part of the appeal to me) and raw lyrics work here, and I find this track to be my favorite at this junction. It's the one I find myself singing most often, and often at inappropriate times. The use of "fuck" is perfect, a la Ben Fold's "Song for the Dumped," but here it's a little more... powerful. In my mind, this is a spiritual successor to O's "Volcano" -- if you didn't take that song's advice to not "build your world around volcanos," you might find yourself bearing the burden of a "rootless tree," and rightfully be a bit pissed about it.

5. Dogs
she's got a wolf to keep her warm if ever she's feeling sad
Though it sounds good enough, the lyrics of this track make it my least favorite. It's nonsense, mostly, but it's pretty nonetheless.

6. Coconut Skins
you can wait for ages / and watch your compost turn to coal
but time is contagious / everybody's getting old

7. Me, My Yoke, and I
my drum, my drum, my drum / gonna make ya come
I'm mad, I'm mad, I'm mad / like a big dog
Another nonsense song which seems very stream of conciousness and rhymey (one lyric is "my god / gave me a rod"), but it works, the same way that Madonna's "I Love New York" works. They lyrics may make you groan, but you get used to them -- and it just sounds so good when you don't think about them.

8. Grey Room
so I'm all alone again, crawling back home again, just stuck by the phone again

9. Accidental Babies
do you cum? together ever with him?
and is he dark enough? enough to see your light?
Vular, brutal, honest... A sort-of new millenium, male "You Oughta Know." In fact, if Alanis were a man, and a little older, and a little mellower, this might've been how her ex-boyfriend anthem turned out. An odd title and ending, but otherwise, a killer track.

10. Sleep Don't Weep
so do what you must do to find yourself
A snoozy ending lullabye that showcases Damien's softer, more hopeful side, which is an excellent note to end the album on. Because without a bit of hope and love, we are just seething pits of anger and jealous -- and no one should be that one-dimensional.