Without a doubt, Captured Tracks is most responsible for my downfall into poverty. Arguably the best label of 2009 (and unquestionably if fellow NY label Woodsist wasn’t around), C/T has been blazing a trail with their stellar 7” releases which I seem to be eating up like candy. My recent purchase, which I have to admit was due to the awesome cover, is from the San Diego garage indie-rock band Christmas Island.
Combining the titles of both sides, you wind up with a topic I’ve already covered, however each track is meant to be taken separately — lamenting the problems encountered at the ages of nineteen and twenty-nine. The younger A-side certainly expounds upon the Wavves’ “So Bored” feeling of not having anything to do while a teenager. The opening lines “growing up in a small town / nothing every happens / spend your time hanging around / nothing every happens” sets the mood of the track, giving the sense that Christmas Islands formed as a band more from a blasé attitude the members all shared than a common music appreciation. Similar to Nathan Williams’s seemingly paradoxical description of boredom using high-energy driving beats, “Nineteen” isn’t a sorrowful woe-is-me type song, but rather a fast-moving “call to action” type track.
The B-side “Twenty-Nine” has a more laid-back vibe to it chiefly due to the surf-y guitar line which certainly echoes the “everything is out of my control” feeling one has when you get older. Another theme expressed throughout is the sense of no accomplishment even at a relatively young age. Unless you are going for a Fields Medal, there’s no reason to feel a strain of not making your mark on the world when you’re twenty-nine; however, it’s natural to do so — and the song represents well this illogical worrisome.
Here’s a track from the 7” (which you can buy here):
