GIVES UP AND PLAYS THE HITS
released JANUARY 8, 2025
ALBUM 52, RELEASE 145
I was not doing well at the end of 2024 (more on that later). Right before I left Philly and moved back in with my parents, I started recording new versions of some really old HW songs. I was somewhat zapped creatively and needed something to do while I floated around in limbo. By the time I was back in NJ, I knew this was going to be my first album of 2025. I'd thought for a long time that, while most of the stuff I released in the early years (2016-2018) was not very good, there were a few gems that just needed an actual good recording to properly shine. These were what I determined to be the songs most in need of a new recording. Because the songs are all old with only a few getting new lyrics or whatever, it's a much more straightforward album than the one that I started recording alongside this (more on that in April).
"Fall of Mantis" seemed right to be first. It's the first song on the first HW EP, the only one that had been written before October 4. I think it's a lot better here. The drums sound like a friend of mine named Monda could have recorded them, but he doesn't play on this album. That said, there IS another drummer on a few of these songs, and it's my twin Dan. You may know them better as Signal Valley. They play drums on "Puzzle Piece", "Fantasy Bleach", and "Beads". I don't know who has gone back and listened to the really old HW stuff, so I don't know what would be considered a "deep cut", but I imagine "Rusty Engagements" and "Melodramatic Bullet" aren't on anyone's "HW Top 200" lists...actually I don't think those lists exist. Don't make one. What could be on such an imaginary list is "A Collection of Xs & Ys", a simple little pop tune that just sort of always works. I've performed it live 8 times since 2020, which doesn't seem like a lot but, given that I've only started performing more frequently in the last few years, I think that's pretty good. When I first put this out, I decided "20 Wolves On The Plot" was the hit. I don't think that's true anymore, but it's almost definitely the most improved. Its original version didn't do the idea justice. Side 2 could only have started with "Happy Ending" and "Her Flaming Absence". In my mind, this is the great A-side/B-side that never was. "Happy Ending" is the closest I've ever gotten to making horrid banal pop-punk, except it's actually good. It may also be about realizing I was aromantic...note that I wrote this before "Xs & Ys". Oops. As good as it is, I think the universe has decided that the better song is "Her Flaming Absence". Multiple former members of HW have said this was their favorite song of mine. Maybe it's because it only has 3 chords (and variants on them). Maybe it's the DA DA DA DA DA...DA rhythm. Whatever it may be, they must have a point because, according to setlist.fm, it's the only song in my "top 10 most performed songs" to have been written before 2023. "Fantasy Bleach" might have instigated this project. Originally written in 2016 after my first breakup, I changed the lyrics for a 2017 re-recording. I always liked it fine enough, but in 2024 I felt something deeper within it. Now, in 2026, I'm not really sure what that was. It's still a good song, but it doesn't blow me away like it suddenly did then. "Positively James McNew" has a unique role in the HW canon: it's an earnest love song. I knew I was ace, but I hadn't considered being aro at all, when I wrote this. There were others from 2017 like this too, in some way, but the difference between all of those and this song is that this song still makes me feel warm inside. It doesn't have to be a love song. It can just be about wanting to spend time with certain people. I should spend time with people again. Anyway, I'm glad that one's on here. "Night Parade" dates back to 2014, well before HW existed, and went through various lyrical revisions before finally ending up here. I'm not sure it's the smash hit I wanted it to be, but I'm nonetheless glad it's here and I can stop worrying about it. Really, that's how this album feels. It's not my best work, I won't pretend it is, but I'm glad there's something a little more accessible in the mix given what came before it and what came after.