Graduating Life: Addicted To Affliction
Whether we want it to or not, life provides us with a wealth of experience. Good or bad, it shapes who we are now and the person we’re set to become. After all, life’s what we make of it. On top of that, is life not about the journey rather than the destination? Stepping into the role of valedictorian, GRADUATING LIFE released their second album II this month. Though Bart Thompson, mastermind of the project, uses the speech to call attention to the darker side of life.
“Anything that I write is this angsty stuff because it’s an emotion that calls out a bit stronger.” Bart tells us when we ask about the album. With lyrical themes such as depression, regret and struggling to find your place in the world, II can be relatable on different levels. It’s human nature to fall on the side of pessimism from time to time. Bart explains this notion when talking about his writing process. “It’s hard to feel happy all the time. There is a sadness in humanity and it just comes to my mind more often.”
While restrictions regarding COVID-19 may be coming to an end now, there’s no denying the long periods of isolation have changed us all. For some lockdown has exacerbated feelings of hopelessness. For others, it’s introduced them to the idea of introspection. “Making people be alone with themselves, it gives them time to reflect or implode,” Bart muses about the subject. Yet this reflection isn’t just lockdown exclusive. As we traverse through life’s many stages, we’re confronted with events that force reassessment.
During the recording process, Bart hit a bump in the road many of us are familiar with: the implosion of a friendship. Though a universal situation, there’s no cookie cutter response to it. There isn’t a handbook on how to deal with toxicity from someone we were once close to. The only thing we are able to do is pick at the carcass to at least attempt to find where things went wrong. “It’s because one person or both of you are changing,” Bart theorises. “It’s growing pains of people becoming distant from each other.”
No matter how old we get, we still experience the pains of growing up. Wisdom means we have been marked by pain. As we battle again and again, the question begs if knowledge is worth all this grief. When stuck in introspection, begging to go back to the moment things went wrong, as GRADUATING LIFE does with In The Back comes all too easily. “If you have a bad experience, it’s easy to say you wish it didn’t happen.” Bart comments, “For the most part, things like that help shape your world view for the better.”
Considering II’s lyrics as a cohesive unit, there are a few adjectives which come to mind. One of them harbouring close to “depressing”. As with all creative minds, there is an autobiographical element to GRADUATING LIFE’s recent release. Equating the song writing process with a therapy session isn’t something we haven’t heard before. Though with references to self-harm and self-destructive behaviour peppering the album, the vulnerability on display takes us by surprise. Talking about how he approaches each creation, Bart tells us each spark which inspires a song “opens you up to every other experience where you’ve felt that way”, each song thereafter connecting in one way or another.
Could that border on self-indulgence? Sometimes, the “addiction to affliction” can be a helpful tool. We listen to angry songs when we feel rage. Sad songs when we’re upset. Why do we do this? In 2015, Sharman and Dingle conducted an experiment exploring whether music exacerbates emotions, such as rage, or influences them in other ways. They determined listening to emotion based music “appeared to match their physiological arousal” which in turn produced an increase in positive emotions. So when we next listen to RADIOHEAD or FAKE PLASTIC TREES while we binge on sadness, know there’s a scientific reason behind it. “It’s like you’re trying to force the release so you can feel something close to normal again,” Bart comments on the fact.
GRADUATING LIFE’s II is a collection of dark lyrical content set to bouyant “electronic punk” instrumentals. Paying homage to the likes of BLINK-182 and FALL OUT BOY, with slight call outs to MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, there’s a nostalgia housed in the power chords. Quick to remind us there are no love songs in these particular hills, Bart’s penchant for happy-go-lucky instrumentals have come via osmosis. This tongue-in-cheek approach may not be for everyone, but this method of catharsis has worked for those bands for a reason. For Bart, however, II was a playground of experimentation. “What I took away from the process is you have to take the time to experiment because that’s the fun part of making music,” he says, citing the free reign of working singularly being his favourite part of the process.
There was a pause when we asked what the biggest takeaway from II was. For a record stacked with emotions, we readied ourselves for an emotional response. While the answer Bart gave was surprising, it was also incredibly refreshing. “It made me feel better about writing, how to write songs and arrangement.” It’s unheard of now for a band to say they had fun making a record. While speaking about the work which went into an album is a serious topic, the element of fun experimentation seems to be stripped from it. It’s also refreshing to hear a musician admit that they haven’t learned everything there is to know about their craft. Humanity is perfectly flawed. That counts for musicians also.
II is out now via Pure Noise Records.
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