Different variations of two things can make you feel alive. It's either going to be something exhilarating or something demoralizing. You're either going to get that buzz of excitement or you're going to get the buzzkill of stone, cold reality. It's gonna give you goose bumps or it's going to make you cold as hell and want to crawl into a hole somewhere.
Boston band Gentlemen Hall use these differing divisions of the same thing to full effect when they're writing. They tap into that place where you're floundering, where nothing's distinguished as up or down. It's all just a whirling, swirling quagmire of issues that need to get navigated through. There's a sense in "Every Morning When I Wake Up," that there are not gonna be all that many reasons for getting out of bed. There's no vacation coming to them and they're feeling the same exact way as they wake up every day - not a problem if that feeling was a good one. It's not though.
Already, in the morning, the first thoughts that crop up are those about the bills that he has to pay, that the world is not going to cut him a break. Already, in that morning, before the coffee's even gone down, there's a ruling that's been made to just slough off this shitty day to get to the next one. They want to take a pass, but the pessimist knows that today becomes tomorrow rather quickly and if the bills are troublesome today, it's a surefire thing that they'll be troublesome tomorrow too and that won't get them any more taken care of.
Lead singer Gavin Merlot sings these thoughts as if he's going to make it though. He's going to have breakfast and he's going to be alright - or he will at least forget about the bills for a good portion of the day. Something will kick in to turn the tides and he'll get that splash of cold, ice water that he'll shake out of his hair, as it trickles down the gulley of his back. It will be refreshing and it will keep him alert. It will be something that makes him overlook the digs, the aches and the drags. It will be something that leads a man to believe in the little salves that reveal themselves. It's the temporary sparks that keep all of us going.
*Essay originally published May, 2012