Love. Loss. Relationships. Abandonment. Hope. These are the imminent sentiments that come through the lyrics in The Milkman & Me and the music coincides strongly side by side with it. The album is a rollercoaster blend of concepts that together is linked to create a story and could easily be made into a musical and at the same time each individual track stands alone to suggest its own theory of what it happens to be about. Not one track breaks away from the energy delivered that you could just skip over for if you did then you would lose the value of the whole. Moments so mellow act like a beautiful and soothing rain enriching the time passing while other tracks are a driving force of power but never uncontrolled. Energy rising and relaxing then back up again then down; so then what are we discussing?
The story itself is twofold ride where the speaker of the songs, “Me”, reveals his thoughts on his loss of love and relationship with one, his lover and two, his brother, “The Milkman”, who we come to know (and the only named character) as Elijah. Each song focuses on one or the other and the album jumps back and forth between them. The only track to change point of view from the narrative of the speaker happens to be “Tyrant” becoming the voice of Elijah the Milkman who offers his account of his own troubled relationship with his lover to which the Me eludes to later in “Milkman”.
The curtains rise and we have a soft background thought of “Love, love, love…” for us to become familiar with what the word, the idea means to us individually. Sometimes a passing thought, sometimes a lingering feeling and today the over-usage of a word that seems to have lost meaning is recreated here to a simple, sweet lullaby. Suddenly unexpectedly, a burst of energy is driven into you and the narrator begins with his dilemma where this so called ex-girlfriend “took [him] for a ride and put [him] in a mess”. “Sans, La Nombre” is the immediate reaction to the breakup, sudden, words spewing out whatever is on the mind; no need to go breaking dishes but just a flip of the bird and goodbye. “The Thread” though is the afterthought, the ideas that come to you when you’ve had time to think about the lost relationship. There is a double deliciousness to this song. Both creep up on you slowly. The playful way the bass enters into this walk or strut to continue the journey then these sliding guitars that for some reason seem to be out of place tone-wise but you sense its suppose to be there.
Out of these depressing thoughts comes “Spring”, a traditional that breathes the idea of hope, that not all is lost. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and salvation from the pain of losing the relationship. There will be life once again after exhuming the feelings of the ex, but when…who knows? Then we are introduced to Elijah who believes himself to be a “tyrant who would butcher all [his] kin” and that his own lover doesn’t “need [him] anymore”. “Tyrant” contains the same controlled outpouring of sentiments of “Sans” which is solely the composer’s direction, the difference lies within the diction of the lyrics and shows how its possibly a different speaker.
“Register One” comes as almost a duet of both brothers expressing themselves comprehending loneliness and that “nothing’s as [they] planned” with “nowhere left to run”. Then the original narrator takes over once more telling the rest of his brother’s story and how its linked to himself. The slimy, tribal rhythm of the drums in “Milkman” provides a more primitive sensation to the song allowing for tension to be created and eventually explode in the chorus. The break then becomes the mirror of the struggle, the trouble of the brother’s life and the narrator’s separation with him.
“Warehouse Blues” is a slice of Americana with its country groove, twinkling piano, twanging banjo and gives a Matewan-esque drive, though the storylines differ the struggle of the workingman is there. The song then tells us of the speaker’s life working in this environment and his feelings towards it. “Register Two” reveals that there may be hope for the narrator as the sentiment of “love, love, love…” returns and possibly in the image of this “photoshop girl” though we’ll never know. After which the speaker then deals with the loss of his brother, “Elijah”. Again we have the controlled aggression that doesn’t have to be punk or hard rock but this cacophony of instruments that create the overview of anger and loss and want. But of course with the reprise of “Spring” reminds us that there is hope over abandonment, pain, and hardship.
“The Track” comes as a conclusion to the first part of the story which is the narrator finally getting over his ex in “Sans” and “The Thread” as just a memory he still hangs on to in hopes…just hopes. And in great Broadway fashion, leave the audience with a positive feeling that gives hope, that allows for the good to conquer over evil. But what “Goodbye” does really is to conclude that even though Elijah has left both brothers know that even though they may be miles apart or not speaking that they’ll always be there. And what it does for listeners is to remind them of the same sentiment.
The most important thing in life to remember is love. Though there may be moments that skew the idea of it, that acts may betray the emotion, that love is a simple notion and if hardship should find its way into that equation it will not remain forever. Each relationship, whether it be fraternal or otherwise, is its own coming of age story, its own learning experience where we grow into an adulthood of knowing and hopefully come out wiser in the end.
[P.S. Just as a side note, I could definitely go deeper into the songs but I guess I'll just wait to write that up as addition to the 33 1/3 collection ;) ]
