“Diplomat” by Cathedrals is an electrorock track by Stockton-based Josiah Byars, originally from the indie folk/Americana band A Movable West.
Byars’s electrorock side-project Cathedrals is much like Ben Gibbard’s foray into electronic music through his side-project turned indie music sensation Postal Service. While “Diplomat” has a higher chiptune to analog instrument ratio, tracks like “Eat Your Heart Out Cary Grant” still have more of an indie rock feel with the occasional electronic loop and background ticks. “Eat Your Heart Out Cary Grant” even features Jenny Lewis-style backup vocals.
In fact, Bryars’s vocals are reminiscent of another early 2000s indie band, Say Hi (aka Eric Elbogen).
Last year, I started music theme days. I need to continue that. “Emotional (Until Crickets Guide You Back)” by Rilo Kiley was a Rilo Kiley Saturday Morning song in December, but I only posted that on Facebook. So let’s make it music blog official and state that today, which is actually a Sunday, is a Rilo Kiley Sunday Evening.
This song reminds me of how a friend of mine was telling me about never really being able to figure out where home is. As I write this, I remember someone I dated a few years ago who also said that she “do[es]n’t have a sense of home.” It makes me wonder what exactly “home” is. But I’d rather continue on about that on a different post with a different song.
Anyway, this song is amazing. It’s one of three songs that… makes me cry. I’ll have to explain that in a different post, too, I guess.
Jenny Lewis never fails to bring out the raw emotion in any of her songs (Rilo Kiley, solo work, or The Postal Service – especially in “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”). And honestly, this is one of the best examples of it – probably also why it’s called “Emotional.”
I feel my heart break deep in my chest every time I get to the 1:53 mark.
Jenny sings “And you’ve lost your way home and it feels familiar and crickets guide you back. And you hear them calling and it sounds familiar and they might help you out.” And that just makes me think of every single girl I’ve ever heard tell me about not feeling like anywhere was home.
Then in the middle of the instrumental build up at 2:43, Jenny just screams “IT’S SO HARD!” and that’s usually when I just start crying whenever I listen to this song while feeling very emotional…
