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10/30/13

How Long by Bradley Hathaway



 How Long

 My first experience with Bradley Hathaway was at Purple Door festival a million hours ago. I was intrigued by the large banner in front of his table that read, "I will windmill kick you in the face..." I only later got to listen to the spoken word poetry that this one line zinger was written for. It was a comment on hardcore kids acting like tools and how its really a guise for genuine insecurity. I loved it. You can read it HERE. This picture spent a long time as my lock screen on my phone:


Anyway, when I found the love of my life and got engaged, my mom handed me the album, The Thing That Poets Write About The Thing That Singers Sing About. I skipped through it and in my all-things-tulle-and-glitter psychosis, I became obsessed with one song in particular. After the wedding, I put together a video of all the photos and featured Like Socrates Loved the Truth (So Do I Love You) in the background. (I gave credit at the end, I swear!) It's a super cute song and I felt like Mr Hathaway had sat down and asked me how I felt about my fiance and then wrote a song about it.

When all the wedding hubbub died down and we were left with the realness of what being married means...and I suddenly felt a little short of proverbial breath...I found good ol' Bradley again. This time, a piece titled, A Conversation, that was almost a half an hour long and it was a couple talking about what it really means to be married. It was comforting, raw and honest. It has helped me push through when things have been difficult in my marriage. 

Coming to love Bradley Hathaway's work has been like getting to know someone who turns out to be a really good friend. You can always trust that they'll have some good insights into life and be there when you need them. His poems and songs are always pregnant with truth and ideas that make you think about life beyond what you actually see in the daily grind.

Alas, this is not a review of his career or character or my experience with his work, this is a review for his new album, How Long. I just wanted to get you excited. So here we go! 

I downloaded the album a week or two ago and I have been listening to it end to end. Besides the usual epicness of thought and prose that goes into a B.H. album, the folky melodies and rythyms are gorgeous and haunting. That alone could be enough to accompany a long country drive with only you and your thoughts. But does he stop with just a symphony of sound that quietly echoes that of Johnny Cash, some folk and a little bluegrass? No. The words and lyrics are eloquent and poetic, as always. 

Bradley explores themes like lost love, broken families, searching for the meaning of love, the legacy we leave behind, brokenness, and redemption.

He is very honest, as I said, in his song writing. A couple of times, while listening to How Long, he used some phrases that shocked me at first because I didn't expect it, but then I was glad that he said them. He doesn't sugar coat his thoughts. Even though he is a poet and is entitled to flowery phrases, he directly says the thing we are all dancing around. He is a subscriber to my own sensibilities of being forthright and honest, even if the truth is ugly. Maybe that is why I like him so much.

This record, decidedly, is a broken heart. When I listen through, I get the feeling of every good moment I ever had, frozen in time. I remember the things that I had that were lovely but I lost them or I couldn't hold onto them. The things that I find myself reflecting on once in a while that stay impressed upon my heart like flowers in a book. 

This album makes me feel what it feels like after I've been broken and the healing begins. The pain is there, but not so fresh. The overlap of letting go, finally and moving forward. It is every bit nostalgic, bittersweet, thoughtful, intense, full of growth and yearning to begin again; to be new.

There are a couple of snappy tunes in the mix, seemingly weightless with happy piano notes, flowy female vocals and peppy step inducing wind instruments but they are still reflective and heavier than they appear.

My favorite song so far, is track number 9, called.... So Far. It is about the things that different people struggle with and break their hearts over and how Jesus is always there when each person is faced with themselves. I also really like how he illustrates that sometimes, coming home to Jesus isn't always like falling on your face and wanting to be new again right away. Sometimes, you just don't know what to say or even how to pick up the pieces, so you sit quiet. The second verse of the song goes:

She wakes up in a strangers bed
Used condoms on the floor
She quickly covers up and puts on her dress
She's sore
She drives back alone to her apartment
Jesus is waiting up for her
She is not forgotten
Tears on her cheek as warm as the night
 Jesus holds her hands
and he squeezes them tight

This particularly resonated with me because among drugs, alcohol, relationships and food, I have also used sex to fill in the empty places of my heart. When those things inevitably fail, it is my Jesus who picks up the pieces and makes me new again. 

In the event that you missed everything I said before this, I really loved the album! I completely and wholeheartedly  recommend it for it's truth, beauty and insight into that very real part of life that no one really likes to talk about; the broken and bittersweetness... the low lows. The good news is, it's not depressing. It is not an album about sorrow, just to be clear. It is about recognizing that no one is above being broken. But there is always hope. 

This album drops on November 5th. Go buy it. 

You can find it at bradleyhathaway.bandcamp.com








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