Coed Pageant: The Seasons EP, Vol. 4: The Fallout [Album]

Coed Pageant are writing some really good songs that easily strike a chord within the listener. For those of us who love three or four chord songs with simple arrangements and great lyrics, this band has it all going for them. The arrangements are perfect, with a little help from their trumpet playing friend, Nathan Fry on “Over It” and some more help from their violin playing friend Twy Bethard on “Fallout” and “Henderson”.

The rustling of leaves and a gorgeous piano part open the record on “The End is Near”. My only complaint is that it’s only 51 seconds, but feels like only 15 seconds. We the listeners could have handled at least a full minute and a half of quaint piano assisted by a few sparkling notes far off in the distance.

Immediately following the instrumental intro track is “Wake Up Alone”, a three chord, poppy jaunt about, well, waking up alone after another long night that ends uneventfully. It’s about finding who you are in those lonely times of your life, when you have nobody but yourself, and the world is there to learn from. Good stuff.

Next comes “Good Year”, a nearly a cappella song that proves this bands apparent love of what minimalism can do to make a song more poignant. The song appropriately ends with the mimicking of the proverbial ticking clock…

…And the ticking turns to clicking to start out the next track, “Fallout”, the second best song on this EP. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you what the first best song is when we get to it. Of course, you may disagree, in which case, myself, and probably also Coed Pageant, would love to have you voice what you think is the best song on this record.

“Fallout” draws you in instantly. It sounds like they closely mic’d one of those metronomes your Aunt Mildred had sitting on the piano when you were 10 and taking lessons that your mother insisted on, and then they threw in some handclaps on top of that…okay, I might be wrong, it could just be drum sticks with a little delay, but I really want to know if it’s a closely mic’d metronome. Get back at me, Coeds.

Regardless of all that, even though this song is only 1:49, I don’t care. If it were any longer it would only serve to make it less poignant.

“Over It” is the peak of this record. A catchy piano melody leads into a catchy verse, that by the second verse leads into a chorus of trumpet with the singing of “ahs” following along, which then gives way to a xylophone or glockenspiel that slows down the time and ends the song.

From the first rustling of leaves, to the darkness of “Henderson” this EP makes you feel like you’re stuck in a perpetual autumn with gray skies above you and puddles at your feet, walking through your wet town lost deep inside your own introverted thoughts. The lyrics are fantastic, my favorite line being, “And intent don’t mean a lot to the person who got shot by accident” from “Henderson”. Give this band a listen, and if you don’t like it, but you love the Avett Brothers, than there is something wrong with you. Not that the Avett Brothers are horrible, but is it possible to love checkers, but hate chess? I don’t know, maybe it is.

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