You Pinspire Me
Full Disclosure: I’ve known these guys that I’m about to write about for the last 13 years. I’ve got a pretty soft spot in my heart for them, but trust me: if I didn’t think their music was absolutely amazing, I wouldn’t be talking about them like this in a public space.
On my first day of university, I walked timidly across campus to my new dorm for the first time. I knew no one. I almost got hit by a football that two guys were tossing back and forth in front of my dorm (no doubt using this little display of physical activity as an excuse to check out the new recruits). One of these guys came over and struck up a conversation with me – he, apparently, had sung in the concert choir with my brother & sister who had just graduated. He introduced himself as Matt, gave me a huge bear hug, and told me to audition for choir. I didn’t, but I did get to know Matt a little throughout that year – he lived just a couple doors down, and was often found playing guitar on the front porch of someone’s dorm until the not-so-wee hours of the morning.
In my second year of university, I auditioned for and joined the concert choir where I met James. There was a lot of good music that year, and I would have actually transferred schools if it hadn’t been for choir and those guys.
Intrigued? Take a listen below, then order here!
The combination of Matt McKenna & James Bloemendal is now known as Ash & Bloom. Let me tell you: they’re something else. Their sound is reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel, but their debut album calls to mind Ben Folds’ 2001 album Rockin the Suburbs. The sound is sometimes big but never complicated and the songs are the perfect vehicle for their honest, tough, and hopeful stories. Ash & Bloom’s debut album Let the Storm Come is chock full of delicious harmonies, hard & honest truths, and, pretty much, my life.
I played this album a couple times because I love these guys and I think they make great music; I have kept playing it because I’ve connected with almost every song. It’s as though they used my (non-existent) journal as a jumping off point for their song writing.
Way back in November at their EP release party, Matt said that the song Let the Storm Come was written from the sentiment “I’m not going to let let fear of tomorrow take what I’ve got today.” We’ve all got things to fear from the future, but as an untested child of a father who suffered from Huntington’s disease, my tomorrows hold a lot of fear. I have a beautiful life right now, I have gorgeous, loving children and a wonderful husband: if I spend my precious minutes worrying about the life that I may be facing in the near future, rather than thanking God for the blessings that he has given me to enjoy now, I have nothing. I don’t even want to waste my days wishing for Friday or for sunny weather.
If You Stay
My husband and I will be celebrating our 8th anniversary this year, and I love him. A lot. But 8 years into our marriage, life is definitely less exciting and more practical than it was in our early relationship. Sometimes, I secretly long for those long ago / far away days of dating & new relationships: the butterflies in the stomach, the first hand-holdings & kisses… Most songs on the subject of love are about the hunt, the beginning, or the painful end. Matt & James hit the nail on the head here when they tackle what happens during the Happily Ever After in If You Stay:
It isn’t truly special if it’s new
And often times it sticks around for a year or two
and then you start to wonder and only to yourself
if who you have is better than anybody else
It charms you with a hazy kind of glow
It wraps you up in pixie dust and then it lets you go
You feel the change of season
and maybe that’s enough
You find an easy reason to walk when it gets tough
It’s only special if you stay
Even when you find those things you’ll never change
When the spark is lost
When you feel the cost
It’s only special
It’s only special
If you stay.
And then, there’s This Town (Hamilton). I fear that this post is running rather long, so I’ll gush about this one later. I do think, however, that it makes a pretty great theme song for this rough-around-the-edges city that I call home.
The only thing that would make me happier about this album is if it concluded with You Carry Me, a song written about Jess & Christy, the (amazing) women behind the men. It lands in the middle of the CD, but since they close out every concert with this song, and I think it would have wrapped this collection perfectly.
If you’re in the Hamilton area this week, come on over to their CD release party on Wednesday night at The Casbah! You can buy tickets in advance, or get them at the door – $12 either way. If you can’t come to the party, check out their YouTube channel to see them in action.
Jenn vanOosten
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