"dinu lipatti's bones," from the sunset tree

under a blanket of a head cold, after a weekend where people are reminding me of things i don't remember saying, i didn't think i could pull this off. and i never, never think about "dinu lipatti's bones," one of those meek, unremarkable tracks that weighed the sunset tree down (and that appeared even more on get lonely). but today i feel like i've finally gotten something out of it. not that i didn't understand the narrative before--two people locking themselves away from the world--but now, it sounds prescient; the chorus on the bass sounds like the way glass sliding across milk looks, and while an all-falsetto darnielle song is a lot to ask from even a superfan, it's a tremulous, weird, and newly essential moment: stow me away, get me out, let me take a breath away from the world, even if "breath away from the world" means huffing glue.

"hast thou considered the tetrapod," from the sunset tree

jason was a well-intentioned investment banker, but for some reason he had a tic where he just couldn't stop hitting my mother. being the oldest, i got my fair share of the tortured hand; i always felt worse for him than i did for me, because i, like john, could say "i am young and i am good," while i doubt he had anything to look forward to except dying.

it's an adolescent song, really, probably the most adolescent song darnielle's ever written: there's a big bad dude, i have headphones, i will evolve, yeah! making light of it would be dickish and irresponsible (and why would i? living in an abusive household sucks), but there's something to be said for the fact that darnielle's trope is EVOLUTION rather than war-like struggle. when i was 13 i was an avid huffer, grade-f student, and utter basketcase--what does it mean to be a martyr with no redeeming qualities? something like an embryo, i guess.