It's an "emo" thing. It's a part of me that will always be there. I blame the freedom and adventures of the summer of 2002 (still known to a few amazing individuals as "the greatest summer ever") for embedding within me a connection to music like this. I think that summer was the first time I heard The Weakerthans' song "Pamphleteer." It's a brilliant metaphor for hopeless, unrequited love, which plagued me and several of my young adult friends around that time. I always tie that song to my college dorm and my first Mp3 player that held 10-15 songs. Yeah. That's how old I am, kids.
The Weakerthans grabbed my attention again around 2007 or 2008 with a great album called "Reunion Tour." There are some brilliant songs on there. As expected with this band, the album is filled with amazing lyrics. They're simple. They're specific. They brilliantly and creatively describe moments in time that most people can relate to. And the bass lines are great. If you're not going to have a decent bass line in a song, you might as well not write a song. In my opinion, of course. They won't teach you that in music theory class. But they should.
"Sun in an Empty Room" is a wonderfully-written, catchy, emo-like song from the album mentioned above. It thoughtfully describes the details of moving out of a rented home. Most of us have done such a thing. But who thinks to write a song about it? The Weakerthans. Thanks, Weakerthans! (Insert cheesy smile and overly-enthusiastic thumbs-up here.)