by Jonathan Bannister (@j_utah)
These are existential times we are living in. Nationally, our own nightmarish reality version of “The Smiler” (for you Transmetropolitan readers) makes sure to keep our thoughts on the end as he glibly threatens nuclear war from the back nine. The daily news and our social media feeds remind us we’re not as far along down the path to a better world as we had hoped. This in addition to the tried and true daily struggles of living have added up to people coping the best way they know how and sometimes those ways end up costing us more than we know.
Elijah Beavers is someone that has death on his mind. As First Thought Worst Thought, Beavers is about to release his new album Grinch that tackles the subject of death head on. ”My friend OD and died on heroin. Shit’s rough, so I wrote a bunch of songs to try and work through my emotions. Specifically, I tried to look at the different ways people deal with death. Some fight it, some ignore it, some accept it, and some weirdos embrace it.”
Grief wafts off of new single "Cody". Beavers can only make it about 30 seconds before words escape him, something felt beyond words wanting to express itself. The instrumentation is muted and out of the way. There is no distortion on the guitar, nothing loud coming from the drums. Everything is muted and somber. There is nothing to get in the way of the feeling of loss. It’s the representation of being in the moment, where nothing needs to be said, the being there is enough.
Grinch comes out February 2 on Dust, Etc.