culture. ish. page two

If you’re into the voice of Bono and the music of Radiohead then Pilot Speed’s latest album, Into the West, is one worth putting on your never-ending list of albums to buy. Even if you don’t dig U2 or Radiohead I dare you to not be impressed with the poetry of this Canadian band’s lyrics.

The continuity of this twelve track disc alone is enough to draw a person into their message. Their overarching theme focuses on the pains of the world. In this theme they draw out the search for self, wrestle with the idea of what love is all about, and simply say that life isn’t simple. The symbolism of light and darkness in ten out of the twelve songs can not be overlooked all the while. We see this is “Barley Listening” with lines like “Light tears through open windows/for now the day has won.”

The band contrasts that with track eight “Into Your Hideout” with lines like “I’ll still kiss the darkness/what I’ve wasted I’ll still taste it.” This drastic contrast appears in their music as well as their lyrics. “Hold The Line” could be easily mistaken as an easy going U2 song while “Ambulance” begins with a head-bopping intro. Why listen to this album? For lines like this, “I hear the drum/I just can’t keep the beat” from “Turn the Lights On.”

Best listening environment for this album: driving.

Labels: md, music, pilot speed