“We live in a free world/And I try, try, try to leave/ Oh, Woe is me” is the opening lyric from Jon Weinberg of Cold Showers on this track, coming from the record that is finally, at long last, set to be released by Dais (home of ICEAGE, King Dude, other good stuff) on October 9. God, what a statement that you can feel right now. Look what “freedom” is bringing America: the freedom to drive your car around and destroy the environment; the freedom to buy an assault rifle for any reason (including shooting a bunch of brown or random people just because you feel like it); the freedom to take money from the poor and give it to the rich, as long as you are smart enough to figure out how to do it. All this freedom in America is just enough to give you chills of joy at the thought of the rigidity of institutionalized socialism, right?
That may or may not be what he's talking about. The album title belies a different understanding: it's called, simply, Love and Regret. So maybe Jon's not trying to get all political. But maybe he is; the drum beats are steady and forward, rushing us into a deep funk. The guitar and bass lines have a certain strictness to them that is of course more usually assigned to the best of '80s new romanticism, but hey, we can dream that it's all about looking past the joys of the flesh and into the need for change in the future. But maybe I'm just being angsty, and I should shut up, and just enjoy this song for the dark five minutes of melodic regret it is.
