On The Impossible Past
The Menzingers / On The Impossible Past / 2012 / Epitaph-87170-1
Continuing with the trend of Scranton based bands after last weeks Tigers Jaw review, I figured it was appropriate to write about The Menzingers (not to mention St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow). On The Impossible Past is an Irish-fueled, pub-rock punk album from 2012 that was met with critical acclaim across the scene - it was even voted album of the year by AbsolutePunk and PunkNews. Formed in 2006 by still current members Gregor Barnett, Tom May, Eric Keen, and Joe Godino, The Menzingers hit their magnum opus with On The Impossible Past. It’s an album that brings an earnestness that is hard not to share with vehicles around you as it emanates from your car windows while cruising down the road.
On The Impossible Past is full of self doubt, self-loathing, and the reminiscence of better times. It’s also full of some remarkable guitar tones and riffs from their Orange tube heads, cabinets and Gibson Guitars. Paired with Barnett and May’s unbounded vocals, you get the perfect bar-top background album for when you’re sipping a pint at Murphy’s Law. Opening song Good Things is an anthem at this point - “I’ve been having a horrible time, pulling myself together. I’ve been closing my eyes to find, why all good things should fall apart?” The song encompasses all the feelings of a shitty day - it’s cathartic to scream along to. Burn After Writing is an extremely catchy track filled with metaphors and the yearning to get a lover back. I love the intro and second verse on this one - “What I’d give to force your sigh. What I’d give to see you cry. What I’d give for your caress to see your blue cotton dress balled up on the floor”. The self-pity continues in The Obituaries - “Maybe I’m not dying, I’m just living in decaying cities. But I’m still healthy, I’m still fine. I’ve been spending all my time reading the obituaries. But I will fuck this up, I fucking know it”. Sun Hotel is a twist on Leonard Cohen’s Chelsea Hotel #2. The song title is a callback to a former bar next to the bands practice space in Scranton that they used to hit - “And I’m pretty sure this corner of the world is the loneliest corner in the whole world. Maybe it’s me, the bartender, this Budweiser, the other customers”. Casey has Barnett recalling some fond memories of waiting on his crush’s shift break from waitressing - “Me and Casey, we used to get drunk before we did the dishes every evening. Me and Casey, we used to get high and listen to our boredom cause it was so much easier. Cause it was so much easier than dealing with everything”. It’s a refreshing song of happiness amongst the depressive, alcohol induced “…weeping again, drunk on the impossible past”, a quote from Russian poet Vladimir Nabokov that is certainly inspiration to the bands album title.
On The Impossible Past was produced and mixed by Matt Allison. The album cover is a photograph that was taken by Mark Cohen in 1974.
