"Getaway" by Turn Off the Stars, Saturday, June 5, 2021

Turn Off the Stars was a short-lived Canadian pop-rock band. The band was often compared to Coldplay or Keane, but their often wall-of-sound guitars liken them more to Oasis or The Verve. In 2006, their self-titled debut album had one RadioU/Christian Rock hit "Please," the second track from the record. Released in the fall of 2006, this was the soundtrack to freshman year in college, which meant driving on frosty mornings to McDowell Technical Community College to obtain an Associate's Degree that (maybe) saved me $20,000. It was also the year that my family moved to Nebo, buying their first house. But this album took on a new life as it was one of my few albums I could listen to in the car without my mom complaining. So it was an album we listened to several times when we took the long drive up to New York to visit my dad's side of the family, seeing family members we hadn't seen in nearly 10 years.

I'VE BEEN RUNNING WITH MY SOUL SO TIRED ABOUT YOU. "Getaway" is one of the simplest songs on the record, but it's a great example of how a song's atmosphere has taken me on mental journeys.  The song is in the middle of the record and it shows that guitar is everything on this record. Starting out with a lonely sounding plucked acoustic guitar and leading into a moody, noisy guitar solo reminiscent of the first track on the record, "I Wasn't Ready," the band somehow captures a "great north" Canadian sound on this album. Of course the wildlife sound on "I Wasn't Ready" sets the listeners up for this Canadian sound. The album artwork and the band's name makes us think of this being a night album, and "Getaway" is a kind of "dark night of the soul" song. Clouds turn off the stars, covering them, and intermittent bands of rain fall around the car as it drives, headlights dimly lighting the heavily pine tree-wooded state route. The summer evening ended with a conversation that made the two feel uncertain about their commitments toward each other. Bouts of depression on his behalf has him doubting if she can be his saving grace. 

I'VE BEEN LYING IN MY HEAD SO TIRED ABOUT YOU. The band is named after a 1976 Bill Evan's song. I'm reminded of late summer in central New York at my grandfather's church camp. The second weekend of August is the family reunion, and in 2008 just before starting my junior year and ten years after we moved my family went back up to visit New York. The reunion was a potluck lunch and barbecue on Saturday afternoon and it would last until the night. Some distant relatives making appearances and leaving after an hour or two, but the core, my dad's brothers and sisters and their children might stay around, sitting around the bonfire late into the night. On a few occasions, someone would bring illegal fireworks from South Carolina or Tennessee, but usually we'd just go look at the constellations over the meadow in front of the "camp," a large dilapidated building central to the property. And on the drive home from that day Turn off the Stars plays on the CD player, reminding me of the cool evening, the warm fire, and family.

Read “Brightside” by Turn Off The Stars on Genius.