via mostly crocodile | where is my spaceship.
“I just want open arms forever.”
Let’s be honest: sometimes, life turns out to be not in the slightest like you would expect. Dreams aren’t quite as facile as you thought they were as a child. Instead, you’re thrust out into the world, forced to get by holding onto the past any way you can. In times like these, we can be thankful to have musicians like Joshua Evensen out in the world, and projects like Where is My Spaceship to escape into. Evensen heads the Hackensack folk-punk project, and has released music under this moniker since 2009. Latest release Mostly Crocodile showcases this unique cross-section of indie folk and pop-punk, recalling the brash energy of Against Me! and The Everymen on one end, along with the sparse, intimate aura and razor-sharp honesty of bedroom pop artists like Bellows and Elvis Depressedly on the other.
Right from Mostly Crocodile‘s album artwork, it is evident that Evensen is holding onto something distant. A drawing in homage to cult horror film Army of Darkness, Evensen seems to purport himself as the Ash to save the working man in distress. And that wouldn’t be further from the truth. Here are ten songs about flaws, broken dreams, breakups, growing up, and facing your darkest, innermost thoughts. “Sad Songs All Night” is a biting take on the end of a relationship, peppered with envy, yet sealed with resolved hate: “You can get lonely, and I won’t give a damn / Damns are for suckers.” “It Won’t Be Forever” is a haunting parable on how time-consuming a “temporary” work stint can actually be, and how it becomes your whole life. And “Anything” is a perfect, heartbreaking anthem instantly relatable for any nine-to-fiver out there toiling away the day. Evensen is a fascinating and brutally honest songwriter, one that I’m excited to hear more of in the future. He is just as inquisitive as the critical thinker he talks about on “Champion Swimmers”: “He doesn’t have answers/He just knows the question/And how to ask it/And that’s all that matters.” In a world as twisted and complicated as this one, speaking up from time to time is what makes all the difference. At the very least, to your own sanity.
Key Tracks: “Snake Juice Anthem”, “Sad Songs All Night”, “It Won’t Be Forever”, “Lemon Heart”, “Anything”, “Roll Away the Stone”
Where to Go from Here: The Front Bottoms – The Front Bottoms, Bellows – Blue Breath, The Dundees – Malice
A Buzz in My Ears 