THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I WAS A KID, a sophomore in high school if I remember right, that I spent spring break with my college-aged brother at the University of Washington. I slept on the couch in the fourth floor apartment of some brick building over there in the U-district where he and his girlfriend lived. I’ve often wondered if that building is still around. I’ve tried to find it multiple times since. But recollections are hazy.
I think I smoked more weed than I possibly ever had in my life that trip. My brother’s girlfriend was a dope dealer at that time. Weed wasn’t legal yet. But she had plants gowing in the closet, and, chances are, I was stoned from the time they picked me up until they drove me back. It was a glorious introduction to college. No classes. No job. No responsibilities. All party. While those yahoos were sitting in a lecture hall, I was sitting in their apartment staring at the walls filled with hippie shit and tapestries. No TV. No YouTube. No Tik Toks. No smartphones. I think I was reading ‘Sophie’s World’ at the time. Napster was a thing and my brother had an immense collection of all kinds of pirated music on his clunky laptop.
Remember that listless ennui of late-teenage, early-twenties? Those four days were my quintessential late teens and early twenties. Everything got rather complicated in my life shortly thereafter. Now, all these years later, possibly the most I’ve ever really remembered about that trip, or that feeling, came flying back to me while I was listening to Jordan Eller’s new solo album ‘Death By Another Name.’
I’ve listened to this album about five times since it came into my consciousness last month. Each time in a different venue and each time hit differently. First, I plugged it into the earbuds while I was mowing the lawn and tending the garden on one of those early summer days. Not the ideal setting to truly appreciate poetic nuanced indie stuff with a lawn mower growling in the background.
A few days later, it was June-uary. The clouds were back. It was cold-ish. Kind of muggy. Misting rain. So I plugged in the ear buds for another listen and went for a walk in the woods. Multiple times along the walk I thought to myself, ‘this is it.’ This is the perfect atmospheric companion for this ethereal album.
The textures. The nuance. The mood. The city off in the distance shrouded in fog as I crested the hill in time with the crescendo of the song ‘Running.’ The giant cedars towering over the quiet forest undergrowth as Eller sings about ‘Dust Bunnies’ dancing across the floor. And, in an instant, I was transported back to those four days in that apartment. Back to my short-lived early twenties. Funny how that works.
Come to find out later, as I’m sitting down to write this, there are a couple paragraphs of liner notes that accompany ‘Death By Another Name’ on Jordan’s bandcamp page which begin with: “This is my debut album outlining the observations, feelings, and growing pains of my early twenties. Death By Another Name is about recognizing pain and fear as momentary, passing just like the seasons. What may feel like a demise is really just a jumping off point.”
Huh. Funny how that works.
Jordan is also one-fifth of the local band Russian Blue. This album was recorded and produced at Empty Lane Studios by fellow Russian Blue member Colin Weaver. They had a release show for the solo album last month at the Chuck with Russian Blue and male//gaze in support. The album’s up now on all the streaming stuff. // NICK SLEDGE
Find ‘Death By Another Name’ at jordaneller.bandcamp.com and more on the instagrams @jordansmeller
