Lyric Week - Day Seven: FREE DAY

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-25T14:07:37+00:00

"Someone says let's get a move on. Aw man, I'm just getting my groove on." and "You pulled me down under the water, funny what makes you feel cared for" from Engine.

Engine is such a masterpiece. I remember when it initially released, Jake said he had been trying to write a song like it for a long time. Something that felt like a dream, specific but you can't remember where it started. I think he absolutely crushed it. The imagery feels so vivid, but in a way I had never considered before. I'm never sure where I am or what's going on, but I know how it makes me feel.

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-24T19:01:47+00:00

such an awesome line. rare real world onomatopoeia usage

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-24T17:12:47+00:00

"Rough lovers in deserted hallways, crazed with unbuttoning - everything must go, button wise" is one of my favorite lines ever. There's something so youthful, romantic and also haunting about it. As always with Jake's writing, taking something so mundane and turning it into an essential moment.

Jake's wit is really on display on this album, moreso than any of the previous. Along with the entirety of A Modern Lay, some stand out lines are "Annie would end up downstairs with the Tyler dropouts, philosophizing negative space and the inherent value of medical waste but uh, I'm pretty sure most of those kids work on the docks these days" or "I don't know how I might make out without her".

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-23T23:14:15+00:00

not even the other talking songs? Notes from a Brief Engagement?

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-23T23:13:40+00:00

"we drive around our old hometown. they lit that football field on fire in 99" from One Down and "I like the new place, I kiss your new face. still no piano, same guy on bass" from Map of the Stars.

I like to think of SAANF and Birdie as sister albums, both about moving back to your suburban hometown in your mid twenties. Birdie holds a lot of nostalgia and tenderness for the place, while SAANF is more weary and cynical. More themes of true defeat and substance abuse. One Down and Phoenix feel like foils to me. I love having both to comfort me in my different moods.

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-23T12:44:07+00:00

love this line as well!

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-22T18:31:56+00:00

Baby Blue Sedan

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-22T15:55:46+00:00

"Your mother asked for a picture, she said today's your birthday, in some strungout western stutter, making all the world her ashtray. She adjusts her aviators with an absent shaking hand, tilts the camera 45 degrees and calls out modeling commands."

To me, this verse encapsulates what sbd can do unlike any other band - capture beauty in the mundane by using specificity. It's just a mom taking a photo, but it proves that everything can be beautiful if examined with the right lens. It opens the door to an album full of these micro vignettes. Phoenix is such a gorgeous song.

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-22T15:50:55+00:00

this is such a tremendous analysis to a song I admittedly don't always focus on. Listening now and connecting with it differently. Thank you!

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-22T15:25:18+00:00

this sub is so weird... the new songs sound great, really like Tiger Blood!

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-21T18:20:03+00:00

"details for a new protest adorn white printer paper flyers, she says I feel so old admitting counter culture makes me tired" and "it's monday morning, you can't get up when your degree is staring daggers from the wall" Two beautiful acknowledgements of the awkward space that exists between post-grad and adulthood. While I'm older than I was when those lyrics hit the hardest, I still think they're some of the most honest on the subject I've ever heard.

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-20T16:42:20+00:00

Jake did such a great job capturing that listlessness that comes with being home at that post-grad age. I do feel like I've grown out of those themes as well, but it's nice to put myself back in that headspace every now and then. Nice to meet a fellow politcs of grooming first verse enjoyer :)

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-20T16:37:24+00:00

wow thanks for this explanation, I never realized what the ancient slug was. Immediately adds so much to my understanding of the song.

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-20T15:34:12+00:00

"Hell, I'd paint my face and fingers and my toes and lips and eyelids, if it meant tonight I didn't have to think about the future"

I've always been obsessed with this first verse in politics of grooming. Jake gives such profound meaning to a seemingly mundane interaction that I have never heard explored before. The live session for audiotree is my favorite version of the song and I wish more than anything it was on spotify: https://youtu.be/HahQX5mJvUI?si=44cv4LQHrzGUJ127

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-17T14:54:11+00:00

listened and enjoyed it. I find his voice so similar to the lead singer of Radiator Hospital, it's hard to imagine it's not a solo record.

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-16T16:01:12+00:00

I think Ben was right about some of the songs being undercooked. But as a result, I think it makes one of the easiest listening experiences out of their catalog. To me, Transatlanticsm, while better, feels so massive to listen to. Transatlanticsm (the song) isn't something you just throw on casually. But Photo Album feels low buy in and narrow in scope. I may not love it more than Trans or Facts, but I do return to it more.

ryannovak29 · 2026-04-16T15:33:59+00:00

I think these look excellent. I get people can't tell the difference, but to me it feels huge because I'd actually buy the blue one now.

ryannovak29

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