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Music Review: The Afters, "Never Going Back to OK"
by R.J. Carter
Published: February 12, 2008
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Release Date: February 26, 2008
Label: INO
Related Sites:
· Official Site
Grade: B
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Opening with the mysterious yet profound-sounding chorus, "Here tomorrow, gone today / We're a part of the Secret Parade," The Afters' Never Going Back to OK hooks the listener with intriguing lyrics and edgy guitar riffs. As the haunting intro fades away, The Afters jump right into the high-grooving rock-and-roll title track, a song that resonates with the young Christian born-again experience. "This album seems to reflect transformation," says vocalist Brad Wigg. "I think a lot of the songs are talking about moving forward, of becoming who we are meant to be."
"The title track encourages people not to just go through the motions, but to try to make an impact on the world and help someone change their perspective on how life can really be," adds drummer Marc Dodd. And the lyrics certainly bear this out: I feel alive / And it hurts for a change / And looking back and it's hard to believe / That I was cool / With the days that I wasted, complacent, and tasteless and bored / But that was yesterday.
Once the dust has settled, the band takes a softer approach with "Keeping Me Alive," a lilting love song that retains a backdrop of the edgier instrumentation that comes unshyly to the fore for the chorus and bridge.
The theme of looking forward continues with "Tonight," an urgent call to transformation with a pleading chorus and reassuring refrain: When tomorrow comes we're gonna feel alive / Somehow forget about the tears we cried / There's so much more we have to gain than we could ever lose.
I saw your name
And unashamed
I searched within 500 miles to find
Any clue
Just as to who
I've fallen for
Cause you've got me and I've got time
I saw your picture on Myspace
Maybe someday we can turn it into Ourspace baby
I don't care how long it takes
I'm saving space in my Top Eight
For you
-- "MySpace Girl"
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Bringing things down a moment is the weepy acoustic "Ocean Wide," followed by an insanely upbeat tune that vies for the 2008 title of "Stalker Anthem." "MySpace Girl" is a happy, peppy, catchy song all about a guy who sees a girl on MySpace and then locates her. It comes across like a positive song about love at first sight, until you realize just how creepy and obsessive it is to hunt someone down you've never met. Although at least the singer admits his mental frailty in the heavily-reverbed refrain, I know you're scared / I know our love is crazy / And I'm so crazy / You make me crazy / For you. But the really crazy bit is that it's based on one of the band member's true experience! "That’s definitely out of the ordinary for us," says Fuqua about "MySpace Girl," which was inspired by the true story of their bass player who met a girl at an In and Out Burger in California, found her via MySpace, and wound up marrying her. "It’s kind of a tongue and cheek song. It’s a really fun song."
The Afters are:
Josh Havens: Lead Vocals
Matt Fuqua: Vocals/Guitar
Brad Wigg: Vocal/Guitar
Marc Dodd: Drums
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If you're looking for a song that drives you into looking for a thrash-dance, "We Are the Sound" will likely fit that bill. With it's machine-gun guitars spiced with a U2 flavor, the song is one of those where the singers and listeners are infused with the melody to take on its aspects and attributes, becoming together something greater than they are -- with lyrics that supply the directions and the momentum: We are the sound / We are the siren / We're all around / And we won't stop singing it out.
The Afters, "Never Going Back to OK"
Track Listing
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- The Secret Parade
- Never Going Back to OK
- Keeping Me Alive
- Tonight
- Ocean Wide
- MySpace Girl
- We Are the Sound
- Falling Into Place
- Beautiful Words
- Forty-Two
- Summer Again
- One Moment Away
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You may have already heard the beautiful words of "Beautiful Words" if you've picked up the rerelease of "I Can Only Imagine: Ultimate Power Anthems of the Christian Faith" where the song was included on the bonus third disc to the re-release. Here, the 2006 Dove Award winning band extends the metaphor begun in "We Are the Sound," but to an entirely different rhythm: We are words / On pages that we’ve left unturned / An ending no one's ever heard / We are a story slowly unfolding / Beautiful words.
Probably the most impacting song of the whole set is the album capper, "One Moment Away." Sung with a light, almost Beatles-esque flair, it's a song that reminds the listener of the fragility of mortality, opening up with a verse that describes a normal day before segueing into a chorus that provokes thoughtful introspection: Wake up and smile / Put on a tie / Walk to the car / And wave goodbye / Radio on / You're singing along / It's all gonna change but how could you know? / (CHORUS): You're one moment away / One chance left to take, and you're gone /
Are they gonna remember you / For running away / Or saving the day from the darkness / And letting your love shine through / (What will you do?) / You're one moment away.
If you liked The Afters debut, I Wish We All Could Win, then you'll no doubt want to pick up Never Going Back to OK. As an album, it's certainly better than OK, although it's not one this reviewer would choose to listen to straight through every time; it's more of one where I pick a few special favorites for replay in my music player -- and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. My faves on this album well outnumber my passes, and I think you'll feel the same way upon giving this one a listen.
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