The content of this review was originally posted on the online music and popular culture magazine I See Sound on 6 Jan 2006.
Release Date: 3 May 2005 (French Kiss Records)
I dated an intransigent Catholic girl once. She loved the religion for all its rituals and traditions. Both her parents were deacons and she planned on following in their footsteps. I didn’t have the same passion for Catholicism, or any form of Christianity. I’d go to church with her every Sunday, though. I would support her and her beliefs, even if they weren’t the same as mine. Ultimately, our spiritual differences were the reason we broke up. Last I heard, she had devoted her life to her religion, spending a year evangelizing around the country and eventually going back to school for it. I choose a different life.
The Hold Steady’s Separation Sunday is an allegorical drug story. It tells the tale of Holly’s resurrection to the Minneapolis scene. She was entwined with the same ceremonies and customs as my ex-girlfriend, but in a very different way. Holly, or Hallelujah as her parents named her, would skip CCD class to buy drugs. She drank, she inhaled, and she disappeared. She was born again and had multiple visions, sometimes of saints and sometimes just seeing double visions of her fucked up friends.
There is a complete cast of characters throughout this album, but they all are pieces in Holly’s story of reemergence. Some of them go on vision quests, some of them die, some of them gossip, but they usually have their stash in their socks and a party on their mind. They tell each other, “Hold your breath and I’ll dunk your head. When you wake up again. You’ll be high as hell and born again.”
“Your Little Hoodrat Friend” addresses the paranoia of a drugged out friendship while presenting the catchiest refrain on the album (“I ain’t never been with yr little hoodrat friend)”. “Cattle and the Creeping Things” is full of biblical references. Original sin and the apocalypse are all over this track. It skillfully interlaces the allusions with snippets from a burnt out scene and implies that no matter how screwed up the world gets, it's all been done before. “Charlemagne In Sweatpants” is about the energy of parties and drugs during a Minnesota winter. It has a haunting organ part and showcases Tab Kubler’s guitar expertise. The song closes with some amazing lyrics. (“When we left we were defeated and depressed. And when we arrived we were ripping high. We had a gun in the glovebox. We had some sweet stuff tucked in our socks. We had Jesus in all his glory.”) Later in the album, during “Don’t Let Me Explode,” we find out that “Charlemagne got caught up in some complicated things. She [Holly, I presume] wiped her nose and she winked.”
The lyrics aren’t pretty, but they’re truthful and brilliant. Craig Finn sings each song with the conviction and vocabulary of a man who lived this story. His vocal style is an onslaught of exceptional and witty lines, almost like a rapper. If Lou Reed had more energy and versatility in his vocal performance, he might sound this good (and I’m a huge Velvet Underground and Lou Reed fan).
Musically, this album is a bombardment of organ and classic rock guitar tones. Franz Nicolay’s keyboards at times heighten the spiritual feel. Tad Kubler’s lead guitar technique shows a player who is theoretically skilled, but lets his emotions dictate his riffs. The dynamics cut back and forth and leave room for incredible drum fills by Bobby Drake. Overall, the album shows that all 5 musicians understand the art of balancing technical playing and the selectiveness of an intelligent band.
My ex-girlfriend would probably find this album hopeless and blasphemous. I would disagree. To me, The Hold Steady’s Separation Sunday is a brilliant indie rock epic saga. It’s “Quadraphenia” for punk kids who searched for hope and holiness and only found a drugged out scene. It’s for the young hipsters who used to be clad in corduroys and watched love die. As Finn croons in “How a Resurrection Really Feels,” “Holly was a sexy mess. She looked strung out but experienced. So we all got kind of curious.”
Buy Separation Sunday at Amazon CD
Buy Separation Sunday at Insound CD MP3
Live review of The Hold Steady and The Thermals from 16 Mar 2007 (Indianapolis, IN)
Best Albums Of 2006
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