Dinosaur Pile-Up songs specialize in coming up with new variations on the theme of exaltation and losing the brakes. There are more than a few times when it feels that they're encouraging you to just go berserk, to feel the sun burning your skin, to throw your car keys into the river and to feel that heart of yours race like it's never raced before.
They make you feel as if you might have walked into a very dangerous house and everyone's coming to a screeching halt and they're shouting at you, with blank, but threatening eyes, "Get the fuck out of here right now if you know what's good for you!!" They make you feel as if you want to stay in that room, even with all of those looks burning into you. There's a part of all this that still feels like a celebration, something like living on the edge and the whole carpe diem thing. It's embracing what feels uncomfortable and just going with it until the rough parts are worn down.
Lead singer Matt Bigland stirs everything up into a creamy froth and he keeps dunking our heads in it. We pull back from the sneak attacks and gasp for breath, but quickly realize that it's not all that bad, that we'll make it. We're just running on fumes - all the sleep deprivation is kicking in and we're just a little pissed off because we can see the end of summer and we all know what that feels like.
*Essay originally published August, 2013