Weekly Album: Week of 04/02 - 04/08 - It's Hard To Find A Friend

Before I get to the main post I would like to apologize for posting this a day late. I got lost working on some other things last night and doing my album review never even slipped my mind. Hopefully this is one of the only, if not the only time I post one late. Thank you :)

This week I listened to It's Hard To Find A Friend by Pedro The Lion. I first heard about this album through doing research about the record label Jade Tree, who are probably most well known for releasing Cap'n Jazz's compilation album Analphabetapolothology and several other 90s emo/emo-adjacent bands. I read an article about some of the lesser known releases on the label which included this album. I listened to one song and then promptly got distracted with other things. When I got around to making my list of albums for this project, I remembered this album and put it on. This is a very chill album, certainly up there with most chill album I have listened to. It is a very minimalist album, which I think adds to the chill vibe of it. For the most part it is just drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. It is mixed in a way that feels like you are almost in the room listening to it; it sounds very wide and roomy. David Bazan sings in a soft voice, mixed pretty front and center, almost like you are face to face to him and he is telling you all these stories. The guitars and bass are nice and clean, playing some pretty sounding lines and chords throughout the album. Due to the minimal instrumentation, I tried to listen and read more up on the lyrics, and wow he sings about some pretty varied things. There are songs about love (as is somewhat standard for a lot of albums), a couple songs about religion which I found rather unique, and a couple songs are sung from the perspective of a father talking to their child. David Bazan certainly knows how to tell a story in such short form bites, which tracks with what I've read about other albums of his/Pedro The Lion. This was an enjoyable experience, and now I know another album to listen to when I need something chill and relaxing to listen to. 8/10 album