Love's Fall-Out: Mornin' Old Sport--Mourning Sickness

I really don't know a whole lot about the band Mornin' Old Sport. I know the following for sure: they are from Boston, they built a high quality recording studio in a basement, and apparently they sometimes communicate with some sort of sound that is similar to a mating call. To each their own, I guess. The following, I don't know for sure, but can fairly confidently assume, that whoever wrote these songs went through an awfully rough bout with love. Break-ups and break-up songs are just one of those things that are timeless, whether we like it or not.

Before I get into the meat of this review, I'll need to let you know the following: I get a little nervous when someone I know says, "Take a listen to these guys and tell me what you think". As I've said before, there are SO many bands out there. And everyone knows someone whose band is "The next big thing", or "underappreciated geniuses", or blah, blah, blah. But sometimes, there are diamonds in the rough, and I love music enough to really hope the next recommendation I get is one of those.
I won't say that this is one of those diamonds, but there is definitely plenty of shimmering going on within Mornin' Old Sport's seven song EP, "Mourning Sickness".

Now as I said, I can't be 100% sure that this is a "break-up album" a la Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks", but if it's not, there's still plenty here about the mystery that is the "relationship". And let's just say for a moment it is a break-up album and all of these songs refer to one woman, well...let's just say the songs wouldn't paint the prettiest of pictures of this person. From everything I've gathered, she'd basically be a cold, ill-communicative, materialistic, manipulator who always needs to be right. Doesn't exactly make you want to track this girl down on Facebook. But then again, this is all conjecture. It would make for an interesting story, though.

To the music...The EP starts out with the song "You're Right", which opens with a bouncy jazz-like piano intro. If you had to look for a "single" on this EP, this would be one of my choices. It's catchy, up tempo and lyrically clever. The singer is trying to explain himself to, apparently, his ex, yet realizes that whatever he says is going to fall on deaf ears. And it doesn't help that, said ex, has plenty of overly agreeable friends who are willing to tell her that she's in the right, no matter if she was or wasn't. There's some barb throwing going on here, and it certainly won't be the last time in the EP.

The second song is my favorite of "Mourning Sickness". "Sucker" sounds like something straight out of ELO's catalog. It's a spirited bit of pop rock, complete with strings and an infectious tempo. I love it when bands can create a contrast of what the music says, versus what the lyrics say. For example, The Beatles created the peppiest song about a seriel killer that one could ever imagine, with "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". "Sucker" is not really a happy song despite the cheery tempo. It's song about being discarded by someone, but still wanting to come back for more because there are certain things that drive us all wild. It may be against our better judgment, but sometimes we can't help ourselves. It's all too confusing sometimes and I think that's summed up with this line from the song:

"I'm no better 'cause I can't explain the hurt and anger of being tossed away"

So far, so good with "Mourning Sickness". Quite an impressive one-two punch to start the album.

The next song slows things down a bit and introduces song 1 of 3 that predominantly feature the banjo. There are a lot of instruments featured on this EP. In fact, before I go any futher, I will say that these are well-orchestrated pieces. Knowing very little about the band, as I said earlier, I can only guess this, but it seems like whoever put these songs, and the EP together, knows what they are doing musically speaking. Who knows? Maybe it's all of the band memebers as a whole. Yet, I digress...The name of the next song is "The Most Dramatic Queen in Town" and the banjo and tempo remind me of The Avett Brothers, which are currently up there as one of my favorite current bands. Lyrically, the song seems to be dealing with someone (an ex-girlfriend maybe? a random acquaintance? a fictional character?) who is so completely obsessed with materialism that she misses the big picture and only sees herself, despite the people in her life that have their own struggles right in front of her face. This fact only seems to be a downer to HER image and HER wants and needs, rather than a wake up call to how life really can be to adults. "You're 18 and still just a child," says the repeated lyric at the end, in an accusatory tone. In reality, though, 18 is still a child, even if the rest of the world tells you otherwise. Cool slide guitar at the end, as well.

I'm with what the band's doing up until this point. At first, I saw this next song, "Out Matched" as my least favorite of "Mourning Sickness". I find the vocalist to be a bit crooner-sounding, which distracts from the lyrics (more on that in a moment, though). I also feel like the song goes on for a bit too long. Once again, there are some surprises in the arrangement, but on first and second listen, I just didn't get it. My third time through, though, was primarily to check out the lyrics of the EP and I've got to say, I was pleasantly surprised that "Out Matched" is probably the strongest lyrically. The song seems to be about trying to figure out why a break-up happened. Who was to blame? Why did we have to play the games that we played? What should have been said but wasn't, but now comes out through second and third hand accounts? Does it matter? There are some really cool lines in here about night, including this one which might be my favorite line of the whole album:

"The night she's a passerby, a runaway"

I really did have some difficulty with the vocals, but this one definitely grew on me.

Next comes a short instrumental piece entitled, "Intermezzo", which basically contains some choral sounding voices, some strings, and the last of the banjo picking. Seemed like a nice way to wrap up that little section of music--almost a bookend, or at the very least, I feel like it was an interesting idea, and maybe even away to continue the musical continuity of the EP.

I said, at first "Out Matched" was my least favorite of "Mourning Sickness", but I actually think it's the next song, which is called, "Broken Lip Service". I guess I was kind of hoping for another bouncy little rocker after the previous three slower tempo songs. And once again, I guess I don't get the vocal style. The crooner style reminds me a little of Antony and the Johnsons, which maybe just means it takes a bit of time getting used to, because I tend to like some of their material. However, I feel like it takes a little something away from the song on the whole. I was a bit confused here with the lyrics as well. It would seem that the singer is having some sort of internal crisis concerning his ex. She speaks what seems like truth, then takes his hand, which feels right, but something about the kiss makes him wants to believe everything she says, but that in turn reminds him that he doesn't beilieve. And I think there might be some reference to fatherly physical abuse as well, but I guess I miss the connection. It is still well arranged, and structurally sound, but I have a hard time with this one.

The last song on "Mourning Sickness" is perfectly placed and redeems any criticism I might have with the prior two songs. "When the Bomb" is a straight to the point, almost Ben Folds sounding, account of what will happen to the singer when "the bomb" drops. "Im ready for the nuclear war," he sings. And I'm pretty sure it's the metaphorical nuclear war, but maybe it's the real deal. Maybe it's just the realization that all of our pain and suffering when it comes to sour relationships don't really mean a whole lot after all:

"But right before it hits, oh God
My heart will be unbroken
'Cause after the explosion
This will all be unimportant
And I won't give a damn
That you never loved me back"

Metaphorical bomb or not, that's another solid barb thrown in the name of love gone bad. The song ends with an epic sounding build and culminates with some nice fuzzy, nuclear fall out-esque distortion, and there you have it. After the bomb drops, all of this "Mourning Sickness" regarding lost or pained love, can be wiped away and forgotten. Time to start fresh, because there's little choice but to move on after everything's been obliterated.

On the whole, I really like this EP, despite the couple weak points. The music is solid and, as I said, the arrangements are engaging. There are a lot of interesting surprises throughout. I do wish there were more songs along the lines of the first two, though. But overall, it's good pop rock, with some sharp, biting lyrics, some brilliant in fact, concerning the crazy, fragile, unstable, yearning thing that is the human heart.

Grade: B

myspace.com/morninoldsport