Look At These Stars

Last night, my e-mail on my iPhone went off notifying me that my pre-order was ready to download...two days early! I hurriedly ran the iTunes app and was surprised to see that the album would actually download off the 3G. Of course, I am entirely biased as I can't tell you how long-awaited this album was for me personally. Their previous junior release of "Out of the Vein" was practically the soundtrack for my life when it was put on shelves in 2003. I have lived that album on and off since high school graduation and really appreciated the musical and lyrical values that were entwined in it. I had to wait six years for this, but it was incredibly well worth it.

Third Eye Blind's "Ursa Major" is mixture of the classic Third Eye Blind style that we all began loving in the late 1990's along with some new, (for lack of a better word) trendy styles reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens and Beirut. The pain in the lyrics of some of the songs like "Why Can't You Be?" which sounds like a man positively begging for understanding from an ex-girlfriend as she harshly informs him that she wishes he was a more consistent lover (like that of her shower head). It's a very Stephan Jenkins song that is amusing and morose.

Another song named "Water Landing" reads to me, in the first couple of lines, a lot like Ben Folds song "Landed" which I realize now I didn't put the two titles together until now, but the resolution in the words and the tone of the lyrics are quite similar, to me at least.

All in all, I don't think you'd be wrong to buy this CD. Don't judge this band off what you may see as a hiatus from the pop/rock market. They aren't making this music for you, they're making it for the universe and music for that purpose is in incredibly short supply lately. It is available for mass release tomorrow everywhere...iTunes at midnight.

[kyle]

P.S. Please also check out Roman Alexander and The Robbery which is another obscure find that I can credit to my always consistently musical friend Chad Stanner who has become their keyboardist. They play every Tuesday evening in Fullerton at Bourbon Street. Look them up!