Posted: by The Editor
A Day Without Love’s new four-track EP Tour Is Not A Road Trip arrived in my inbox at precisely the right time. I’ve been distracted from my tasks by a slight mania: a mania about the gulf between the things people need to do to make enough money to live and the things people want to make as art. It’s never been easy to make a living as an artist, but the path labeled “creativity” seems to veer so far away from the path labeled “$$$” these days as to be completely irreconcilable. Algorithmic social media sucks up time and attention; music distribution platforms pay out almost nothing; former working-class hero Bruce Springsteen is charging thousands of dollars for single tickets to his show. What is happening??
“Caffeine” is a jittery punk ode to the classic stimulant (“Car needs gasoline and I need caffeine”), and “DIY or Die” positions Walker against people who “sing for corporate” in the pursuit of clout. “Show Friends” celebrates the kindness of strangers met on tour, ending with an exquisite string arrangement of the chorus’s vocal melody. And closer “Home On The Highway” wraps everything up with a commitment to the road life: “I can’t say if I was meant for this / but sometimes you’ve got to take a risk.”
Disappointing / Average / Good / Great / Phenomenal
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Molly Mary O’Brien | @missmollymary
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