"Around the Corner" by Mike Mains and the Branches, Sunday, January 31, 2021

 

2019 had its share of dark moments. I struggled with the questions about what to do with my life. I wondered if I was wasting my time collecting just enough money for a job that I would one day grow out of. I was in love with someone who was struggling to achieve a very hard to reach goal. The future looked so uncertain. I really started to deconstruct my faith at this time, too, giving myself permission to think through dogmatic statements I had always held to be true, mostly because I was afraid of the consequences of if they weren’t true. Mike Mains & the Branches' When We Were in Love was an album I listened to on long walks when I was trying to clear my head.

WITH HEAVEN’S MANSION OUT OF REACH. I saw Mike Mains and the Branches perform at the second to last Cornerstone. Around that time they played the video for “Stereo” on TVU (new RadioU TV). The song  had some interesting lyrics, but the message was pretty orthodox. But in 2019, the band released their third album, When We Were in Love on Tooth & Nail Records. Rather than Springsteen-esque worship songs, Mains turned to writing about his experiences with depression and marital problems.  The album certainly has some happy songs too. But the most memorable tracks have dark verses and uplifting choruses. 

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT’S AROUND THE CORNER. "Around the Corner" relies on cliches and platitudes to drive its point home. However, that doesn’t make it insincere. I remember a quote from August: Osage County: “ Thank God we can't tell the future. We'd never get out of be able to get out of bed.” But without being to tell the future, there is the possibility of hope. What Mains writes in this song, which is point in the album that chooses life, seems to be the cliches and platitudes you tell yourself to get through something. In this way, the song reaches beyond giving hope for suicide, but also for people who are going through any kind of uncertainty. Times are rough. Hope might lie around the corner. The chorus was my 2019 mantra when I was struggling or someone close to me was having a hard time.

GOODBYE TO YESTERDAY. January 31st means a lot to me. When I was a junior in High School it snowed on that day. It was a Saturday, so no school was lost. But I spent the day outside enjoying the winter. I had a deep realization that it was one of the last times that I would live at home and enjoy the snow in such a way. The next day I watched the snow melt and think about it. I hope to chose a very meaningful song as a check in on January 31st. Everyone loves New Year's Eve. We tolerate a New Year's Day. Many of us have a day off on MLK day, which coincides with Blue Monday--the most depressing day of the year. We get to the end of January with a list of broken resolutions and we start to lose sight of who we are. Am I just the same bump on the couch as last year? Am I any better? I'd encourage you to keep it up. Start your resolutions again on Chinese (Lunar) New Years (설날). The days are getting longer. The weather will get warmer. Life will return to normal. Let's see what's around the corner.

Read “Around the Corner” by Mike Mains & The Branches on Genius