New Music Friday! Local H - Turn The Bow


There was a time in my mid 20s until my mid 30s that I closed myself off to music.  If it wasn’t a few ‘favorites’ from my early years, or movie soundtracks, I generally stayed away.  A few years ago I decided to start going to concerts again.  The first one – Local H’s 20th Anniversary show of their hit record “As Good As Dead” at the Hard Rock Cafe in Pittsburgh.

I was like any good kid of the 90’s and owned a copy of As Good As Dead back in the day (But..that was back in the day, get it?).  However, that was about as far as my Local H knowledge went.  That wasn’t to say I wasn’t a huge fan of the grunge/alternative movements of the era, just that, I went with the winds of popularity like any ‘normal’ teenager would.

That day in 2016, though, it all changed.  About when Scott Lucas, Ryan Harding (on bass), and original drummer Joe Daniels started jamming out during an extended performance of “Manifest Density Pt. 2”, I thought to myself “Why did I ever quit loving music?  Why did I ever stop playing guitar?  What happened to me?”  Something was re-awakened inside of me.  My love for music.  In retrospect, it was my first step out of depression and alcoholism, I just didn’t know it yet.

I dived down hard into their discography after that.  If I wasn’t being retrospective on my aforementioned era of depression/alcohol with “Here Comes The Zoo”, I was comparing “Hallelujah! I’m a Bum” to R.E.M.’s “Document” as my favorite politically themed record.  Or following the rise and fall of a rock star in “Pack Up The Cats”.  What I’m saying is – no matter how good or bad this new song is, my feelings towards it will be completely biased in the positive.  Local H has become, in these last four years, the voice to my post-mid life crisis, re-awakened self.

“Turn The Bow” starts out with a riff that is almost reminiscent of old surf rock, but with an angry, loud, Local H twist.  The lyrics evoke the imagery of a ship lost at sea to me, with the subject trying to focus on getting out of the mess they’re in and not getting bogged down in the ‘why?’.  Knowing what the band is trying to do with this new album, that is – a loose concept album inspired by The Beatles’ White Album as well as current events (As seen here) – and knowing that this song will be bookended on the upcoming album by 2019’s “Patrick Bateman” and 2018’s “Innocents”, it almost feels like this song will work as the ‘point of no return’ song in the overall narrative.

I guess we’ll have to wait until the new album, Lifers, is released sometime in April.  I know I can’t wait.  I have a playlist of Bateman, Bow, and Innocents ready to play on repeat until then!


Local H Website

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