The Earth Pushed Back
Have Mercy / The Earth Pushed Back / 2013 / TSR081
Have Mercy are a force to be reckoned with. The Baltimore based quartets debut LP The Earth Pushed Back was a surprise discovery for me on Topshelf Records lineup back in 2013. I think this record was on repeat all day long for a lot of people that followed Topshelf’s drops pretty closely 10 years ago. It’s loud. It’s raw. It’s rough around the edges but in a good way. The Earth Pushed Back is heavy on the ears and the heart. They didn’t reinvent the wheel for the genre with this record, but the lyricism is golden and it gets its hooks into you. Lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Brian Swindle fully displays life’s navigation of relationships in the most unapologetic and poetic way possible. Swindle gives big, raspy vocal deliveries similarly to that of Balance and Composure’s Jon Simmons.
Produced by J. Robbins (The Promise Ring, Tiny Moving Parts), the album features 10 tracks. My favorites most notably on the record are Hell, Weak at the Knees, and When I Sleep. Something is so powerful and organic hearing Brian scream “We laughed in the sun, we laid in the grass. And I felt your Earth pushing back, it pushed back” in the chorus of Weak at the Knees. It’s my favorite line on the record. It sets the scene of a couples beautiful memory as their worlds begin to collide. But unfortunately this story isn’t a happily ever after, as she has lost interest in the relationship. The song follows a dynamic growth with acoustic guitar chords being strum alongside vocals in the beginning and evolving into desperate lyrics and forceful guitars by the end. Hell also crescendos into a big outro. I love the usage of dirty guitar tones filled with reverb and delay on this track. Brian’s line “When you came back from hell, your eyes were filled with fear. I’ve got this old note saying I wish you were here” correlates with the rest of the records theme of his unfortunate breakup. It’s sad and emotional, but that’s why I love it. It’s honest and you can feel it. Album closer When I Sleep he sings “But you are the best thing that I ever had. And we, we were not that bad. No one knows the inside jokes or fun we had. And we, we were not that bad”…
The albums jacket and lyric insert feature eerie sketches from Beau Brynes (Broken Beak). The haunting sketch-work coincides well with the albums tone. On the back of the lyric sheet is what looks like a silhouette of a head, with a face of a girl inside (likely related to memories of a lost lover). The clear variant I own is part of Topshelf’s second press batch and also features a harrowing sketch of the back of a girls head on the vinyl label itself. Ironically, this album is the first vinyl record I ever received with my turntable (alongside I Can Make A Mess’s Enola). Feels appropriate to make it my first Record Review on my website. As The Earth Pushed Back just passed it’s 10 year anniversary in May of this year, I’m glad to say that it still holds up as a great rock album. This album will forever transport me back to my sophomore year of college as I was walking the campus and navigating my long-distance relationship with my now wife. I hope that it continues to remain on listeners playlists and in their record collections as I feel that this is the best of Have Mercy’s discography.
