30 Day Song Challenge: Day 11

A song from my favourite* band

From the Sea by Eskimo Joe. From the album A Song is a City.

*Again, stupid question, as a music lover I cannon pick a favourite band. There are too many things to consider when picking a favourite song or band and these factors continually change depending on a number of factors. The biggest factors affecting my judgement of a band are the music and lyrics, what mood I’m in, what mood the song/band puts me in and how much I have listened to the band. I can listen to a band that sounds great and makes me feel happy, or I can stop listening to a band because I’ve played their latest album all the way through on repeat for the last week! So instead of designating any band ‘my favouite’ I’ve instead picked one of my favourite bands. That is Eskimo Joe.

It was ridonculously difficult picking a band today. Eskimo Joe ended up taking the cake because they are one of my favourite Australian bands and I think they have evolved really well. There are other Australian bands that I would also classify as my favourites like Augie March and The Temper Trap but I’ve chosen Eskimo Joe as I feel they demonstrate the kind of progression in their music that makes a band great!

The progression I’m talking about refers to the way this band started with punk rock (eg. Ruby Wednesday and Sweater) and have transitioned through more general styles of rock (eg. Head Hurts and Wake Up) through to what I would call more thoughtful rock (eg. Black Fingernails, Red Wine). From that point they also dabbled in pop-rock in their last album Inshalla. Even though I didn’t really like it it was cool to see they were building on the diversity of their material. In this respect they are much like Radiohead who have set the benchmark for progressive band development. So basically I see Eskimo Joe as the Radiohead of Australia.

The song I have picked today falls into the ‘thoughtful’ category I mentioned before. This is a great song – in fact it’s the song that got me ‘into’ this band. What makes this song ‘thoughtful’ is that its a bit darker and more mysterious than what their previous material had been. It also uses more symbolism and metaphors which for me make a better listening experience.

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