by Jonah Evans (@jonahinthesnow)
The EP named Turns Out I Was Just Really Bored by Dodgeball makes me think of what I do when I’m really bored. I sit on my butt, pace around my house or bedroom, walk outside to nowhere, constantly check my phone, and more than anything, I become an innate indecisive object. This mode unravels into a fit of anxiety, and my brain seeks to hold on to something that will grab my attention, a meaning, to rid myself of this (so called) boredom, because, nothing has worked up until this point. Turns Out I Was Just Really Bored is, to me, the point of realization of all the ignored emotions during boredom. It’s a sloth of emotions jumbled, filled with anticipation, contemplation, patience/impatience, and a twinge of excitement.
The first track “Sweating” starts slow with male and female vocals singing the same lyrics. The male voice is deep, and lazy, not in a rush to get anywhere. The female vocals are a much higher pitch, and more poignant, and it feels easier for her to sing. Their voices complement each other patiently as a guitar melody walks with them, and when they stop singing, the second dissonant, frustrated guitar gives shallow echo to the voices. It’s a contemplative song, like a hot humid day, like watching the heat slowly rise from the black pavement of road in the middle of summer. “Sweating” is a great calming song.
“Rock Song 1” gets my anticipation up every time I listen to it. It’s like, I want more, more of something, more of the song. “Rock Song 1” builds its energy constantly as if it is working to some huge payoff. The result is that when I listen to it, I feel like I am on the edge of my seat, ready to jump or run, or even scream. What am I going to scream about? I don’t know... life, the things that excite me, the things that I want, maybe. The song grabs and claws with a country-esque swing beat, a constant tapping of drumsticks on the metal edges of a snare. The song is on the edge of emotions spilling over into some great release or revelation, but it never truly relents. The result is an incredible amount of concentrated tension, and the vocals back up the tension by holding a high-pitched urgency with words that fail to detach from each other in the verses. Their voices let out strained, quaint screams in further verses and choruses. The song makes me want to go outside and scream about the joys and confusions in life.
“Robert Parsnip” is one of those songs that’s good to drive to or meander around walking the streets of a city. The guitars, the vocals, the drums, all of the instruments have this lazy vibe to them. Not lazy in a bad way, but more like they are tired, giving up, resigning to the fate of whatever it may be in the near distant future. It’s an uncertainty, some of that contemplation of what to do in a moment. Even when the song gets loud and the guitar and drums thrash on the bridge (it sounds so good!), the attack has some uncertainty, well-orchestrated uncertainty at that. The last two lines of lyrics help build on that emotion: “want to leave, can’t drive / so I’ll just stay.”
Turns Out I Was Just Really Bored ends with “Palm,” which sounds so close to a waltz (maybe it is?). The patience of Dodgeball shines again in this song, I get sucked in, and the song ends, every time, before I know it. Maybe, Turns Out I Was Just Really Bored.