Track of the Moment: Chemicals by Armor for Sleep

Oh god, an alternative rock band. Or, if you’re an idiot, an emo band. But hold on there buddy, things aren’t as bad as they seem. This New Jersey-based band broke up in 2009, and broke my heart the same year, so there’s 2 good things for you right there (if you’ve already begun to resent me for this article. Or just resent me in general). But if you listen to the song, you’d see why it was so hard for me when they broke up. If the last few posts of mine haven’t told that I like a story-driven album, I like a story driven album. And Armor for Sleep is the prince of concept albums, behind The Mountain Goats (in terms of their ability to churn good ones out; not trying to diss Pink Floyd or The Beatles here). On their third and last album, they dropped the concept album idea, and just went for a series of self-contained ballads. And there are the vocals; Ben Jorgensen had this slight whine to his voice that was perfect for sad songs, and gave a sense of truth on positive songs. And their music felt so original in a genre that has become stagnant. The strange guitar effects, the melodies, the sense of composition, it all comes together amazingly like no other band in whatever genre you want to call them. I chose "Chemicals" because I feel like it shows off all of their best talents. So try them out, see if you like it. At the very least, their harder sound will be a nice change from the usual indie stuff posted here.