Dashboard Confessional

Now about music. In my ipod’s most-played playlist now I have “Dashboard Confessional”. Oh yeah, Emo is definitely in now. Emo is a short of emotional and they call this kind of music Emo apparently because the way the singer performs it: strongly emotional. There’s a report that once when DC sang “This Bitter Pill” he (yes, he, I explain latter) actually shed tears at the end. Even without such theatrical performance, I have to admit there’s so much energy, so much emotion comes from the music and the lyrics. Emo then, is justified.

About the name Dashboard Confessional. This is the stage name of Mr. Chris Carabba, a solo singer and not a band name—in the beginning at least because lately he has regular backups and now he doesn’t mind that misconception. Mr. Carabba being an artist, stated his reason "What rulebook says it has to be called your name if you're one guy?" Yeah right, so instead of generally acceptable-easy-to-remember-marketable-mono-syllabic-stage-names such as Sting, Cher, or simpler names such as Bono, Jay-Z you use Dashboard Confessional.

In fact, marketability was not Mr. Carabba claimed he had in mind at first. DC was only a side project, while his “permanent project” it seems, was a front man for “Further Seems Forever” (don’t be confused: this is a band name). While generated a group of loyal listeners with his first 4 albums, commercial success finally came when the song “Vindicated” was included in Spiderman-2 soundtracks. Then with his latest album “Dusk and Summer” stardom at last arrived. Oh yes, as usual the original fans then whining about sacrificing artistic integrity for marketability. As if both can’t go hand in hand. Anyway, still good music in my opinion.

Okay, here’s one example of Mr. Carabba work from his previous album “The Swiss Army Romance”. By the way I don’t know whether there’s any Indonesian band you can call Emo. Padi come to mind. But while Padi’s lyrics are poetic and the music sophisticated, DC’s lyrics are more straightforward with a much simpler music background. Buy the CD and judge it yourself.

A Plain Morning

It is yet to be determined,
but the air is thick,
& my hope is feeling worn.
I'm missing home,
& I'm glad you're not a part of this,
there are parts of me that will be missed.
And the phone is always dead to me,
so I can't tell you the temperature is dropping
& it feels like

it is colder than it ought to be in March
& I still have a day or two ahead of me
till I'll be heading home,
into your arms again.
And the people here are asking after you.
It doesn't make it easier.
It doesn’t make it easier to be away.

I'd like to hire a plane.
I'd see you in the morning,
when the day is fresh.
I'm coming home again.
It's warmer where you're waiting.
It feels more like July.
There's pillows in their cases
& one of those is mine.
And you wrote the words I love you,
& sprayed it with perfume.
It is better than the fire is
to heat this lonely room.
It is warmer where you're waiting
It feels more like July.

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