Only Sparrows

It's been a while since i've really, truly loved an album. I described it as falling 'whole soul' in love with it on twitter the other day, and i stand by that description. 
I've loved Josh Pyke since i first heard Middle of the Hill all those years ago, and all of his albums have been good, great even, but there's something about this one that has just captured me a bit more. I'm not sure why, i'm not sure why this album more than anything. it's just brilliant. 
Particularly i love Diet of worms ("i know we're not at the centre of anything circling, dark, cold... arrogant to think of us as anything but a happy coincidence...") and Punch in the Heart ("and i'd press you against the bonnet just to keep our heat"). Josh has always captured the spirit of summer in his songs, they always seem to shuffle into my ears when i am walking home in the sun after a day at work and they'd make me smile. Only Sparrows seems to have gone beyond that and etched itself into my brain all the time. I find myself itching for a spare period so i can go back to my office and put my headphones on and listen to the album from start to finish again and again. In order too, i don't want to shuffle it in with Boy and Bear or any of the other albums that i've liked recently. It's been headphones on, music loud, just lying there letting it be everything... A long time coming, a long time since an album has made me want to do that.


It's been some time since I've really loved songs like i love these songs. I really loved Adele, but i think for me her songs came a year too late for me to whole soul love them. Sure, i'll belt out Set Fire to the Rain, and the Islander kids in my year 8 classes have all heard me sing Rolling in the Deep, but they're good songs, not soul touching ones. Not for me. 


The other thing that Josh Pyke made me realise is how much i still like CD's and booklets and tangible music. I bought Eskimo Joe's album online and it came with a digital booklet. Something that i haven't looked at, same with Yellowcard's booklet when i bought that online. One of the first thing i did when i bought physically the CD was snap my headphones on and flick through the booklet of Pyke's album. Admired the artwork, read some lyrics. It makes the music experience different, better i think. Not that i could explain why it does either. 


I like music that i can get excited by. I like music that i can sit and listen to the whole album on repeat for days and days. Josh has given that to me in Only Sparrows, and for that i thank him.