All My CDs, pt. 35: Magnicifent

Magnicifent - Driftless Pony Club

A pattern I have is that I buy one album, and if I like it, I buy another by the same artist. Mostly, it ends there; either I am disappointed by the second one and not inclined to try another, or I am satisfied with only two. Sometimes I encounter a musician that captivates me such that I go about collecting their entire discography, but it seems that many of the artists in my collection are represented in only two disks.

Driftless Pony Club is among those bands. But when I first listened to Magnicifent (not a misspelling, but the album's actual title), I was not disappointed. I think it's a vast improvement over Buckminster, which was fairly good in its own right. Between the making of one and the other, I think DPC honed their craft and became more adventurous, as the songs here are more varied and interesting to listen to, as well as more emotionally evocative.

Although the overall mood is cheerful, a few songs are not. 18 Years Later describes a desolate and despairing mission to Mars, and since my first science fiction short story was along similar lines, this one hits as close to home as it could for someone who's never ventured more than a thousand miles from home. All Quiet isn’t quite as morbid, but is nonetheless quite dark.

But most of the songs are more optimistic. YR MNHTN, besides being one of the most instrumentally interesting songs, espouses a very positive attitude toward music itself: “Other people’s lives are failures, baby / but all of our mistakes are art / keep the record going, keep the music going / every song’s a brand new start.” This refrain proves to be delightfully catchy as well as meaningful.

Another of my favorites is Bedrolls Across America, which I love because it seems to be a love song from the members of the band to each other: “I’d sleep in a van with you if it meant we could do what we always meant to do.” It describes the beautiful feeling of not only being with people you care about, but achieving with them a mutually-held dream - such as becoming a rock band and going on tour. The song never fails to give me warm fuzzy feelings and hopes for a positive future. Fountain City gives me similar feelings, although I have more trouble parsing the lyrics to tell you exactly why. It’s a remarkably upbeat song.

I’d definitely recommend this album over Buckminster, although I do like them both. I may even someday break my two-disk pattern to buy more albums by this band, if they’re equally fun to listen to.

Next: Driving Blind