The end is usually a bad place to start, but here I can't help myself. Getting Sodas couldn't be more perfect as a closer to Whenever, If Ever. I still remember the first time I heard the album and being left amazed at the end. I immediately played the whole album over again in the hope I could repeat the enjoyment. A closer should make you come away from an album feeling triumphant and like you've just listened to something special, and that's exactly the feeling that Getting Sodas cements for me. Everything comes together perfectly in that song and the build up leads to such a wonderful, explosive conclusion. It feels like everything, musically and thematically, was just a build-up for this moment.
Or at least that's what I took form it. Before Whenever, If Ever, I'd heard a few TWIABP songs here and there (a band whose name is so long even the acronym gets abbreviated) and enjoyed them. However, similarly to how I feel about a lot of Low songs, I felt the grand build-ups stopped too soon and I wanted them to go further. For me, Getting Sodas is to TWIABP what Nothing But Heart is to Low. Both are songs that I longed for, I never want to end but never fail to put a huge smile on my face.
The timing of this post seems appropriate too. Whenever, If Ever appeared on the internet in a slightly un-momentous way just before its release and Topshelf announced a stream on Bandcamp. I was just about to start my first job after graduating and decided to give the album a play one afternoon. A few weeks into my new job I played the album a few more times in my headphones when the office was a bit quiet and, for a while, it was my go-to streaming album at work. In October I finally saw the band at Fest and was suitably blown away by their live show. I bought all their EPs and received the LP for Christmas. I placed the album at number 2 in my albums of the year (it was a close fight between TWIABP, RVIVR and Restorations). Two days before I left the job I got last summer I was lucky enough to catch the band play in Banquet Records and The Fighting Cocks in the same evening. Then I left my job, moved to Oxford and started a new adventure. TWIABP, and this record, really covered that period of my life very neatly. I'll still enjoy it in the future I'm sure, but it's connected to that period of my life in so many ways it feels like a part of it.
So what of the rest of the record? It's all pretty good. After a gentle intro, Heartbeat in the Brain really kicks things off and Picture of Tree... and Gig Life are all excellent. And of course it ends on Getting Sodas, putting this incredible cap on those exciting moments that have just passed. The album feels short but there's so much crammed in. As for the pressing, I'm inclined to say that its the clear vinyl from the first pressing but it's hard to tell for sure. It looks pretty nice either way.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: free, new
Bought: Gift
When: 25/12/13
Colour: Clear
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
