fairy lights and fireflies

finally got around to listening to the dashboard confessional cd i picked up a long time ago: the places you have come to fear the most. 

admittedly this is gonna be short, as the sound is relatively the same throughout the album. steeped in yearning and angst, it's all about nursing the wounds of broken relationships and self-esteem. despite that, it's a really comforting acoustic album, with only vocals and soft strumming present in all the tracks. listening to it makes me see the hues of sunsets: blazing oranges, soft yellows and golds, with the slightest hint of red. 

in terms of environments / landscapes i see, i see tall grasses and dirt roads. wooden fences with peeling white paint. oregano flowers, dandelions. the air smells sweet, somewhat woody, though there's hints of warm summer fruits somewhere. it's definitely late summer: the vacation period's coming to a close, yet instead of preparation for school, all you can think about is how much time has passed since your first vacation. since the summers in which the season wasn't a vacation at all, and you were free. those first few years. could you return to the brightness and warmth?

the title track (which is actually track 9, interestingly enough) particularly reminds me of daphne loves derby. i can't quite put my finger on which song i'm thinking of, but it's definitely from their demos or acoustics of on the strength of all convinced. ugh. i love. more people should know about daphne loves derby, i swear *_*

back in september 2024, i chronicled some songs that filled a particular mental genre / niche for me, about songs that were "warm[,] but not in a fuzzy kind of way, in a sad and nostalgic way." this album fits perfectly in that niche, even though most of the other songs i listed there were contemporary (sometimes piano) rock (the fray, goo goo dolls, steven cravis on the quell soundtrack). 

odes to lonely, lost love. those are some of my favorite songs.

sotd: the brilliant dance by dashboard confessional