The Great Pretend

by Should

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Richard RR Mostly really nice dream-pop but Dalliance reaches back to their earlier shoegazing style. Should only recently loaded their great catalog on Bandcamp and so you really ought to check them out! Favorite track: Dalliance.

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1.	Don't Send Me Your Regrets 03:50	lyrics	buy track
Oh no don’t send me your regrets Don’t fill the air with such nonsense If you would like to make amends Then you must take us back in time But since you can’t then let’s just end this whole unbearable charade Oh no don’t send me your regrets Oh no don’t send me this no more
2.	Loveless Devotion 04:11		buy track
3.	Mistakes Are Mine 04:40	lyrics	buy track
I stayed awake that night and swore You’d be inside my head no more Your vanity’s a certain crime As days of wine and roses fade Destined to haunt till end of days These things don’t matter much ‘til I Find out that all mistakes were mine You know how I am prone to miss The simplest and the obvious It does no good to try and remind I’ve done myself quite in this time And yet, you were never phased How could you not detest this change? That’s when I let go the lie Found out that your mistakes were mine The mistakes were mine The mistakes were mine The mistakes were mine I viewed your subtle move to beguile As just a vain attempt at style The dark is captured best with my My camera’s shortest shutter time And yet, you were never phased How could you not detest this change? That’s when I let go the lie Found out that your mistakes were mine The mistakes were mine The mistakes were mine The mistakes were mine
4.	In Monotone 05:10	lyrics	buy track
All throughout the night The world was all alight It was as if the stars had fallen down And taken flight You and I would be I made this guarantee You think those words have lost their meaning now I disagree Stand on our headstone Though features all are worn You’ll see the dates go on and on and on In monotone You’ll see the dates go on and on and on In monotone Afternoons on telephones And late night walks by light of moons Is this so hard to understand? Or have you just decided to be cruel? Ridiculing all the fools and Bending, breaking all the rules Well, I refuse to let it go So watch me now as I untie this rope This is melancholy, dear Melancholy, dear Melancholy, dear
5.	Down A Notch 03:17 video	lyrics	buy track
I’m uniformed and I almost missed the end Is this true? Is this true? Or have I misconstrued? It’s hard to read between the lines when you’re like this What do you mean? What do you mean? Do you have to be like this? If you’ve got all the answers I’d love to hear just one of them I’m sure you would not be worse for wear If you’ve got all the answers Just share with me the smallest one The smallest pearl from you is something rare Hold your thoughts; you don’t know just what you’ve said You take it back; You take it back Back inside the box Then take it out into the field where it was born Leave it there; Leave it there Stop standing on my heart If you’ve got all the answers I’d love to hear just one of them I’m sure you would not be worse for wear If you’ve got all the answers Just share with me the smallest one The smallest pearl from you is something rare
6.	Everybody Knows 04:12	lyrics	buy track
Stay on point but not on task No questions ever asked With the colors of our past We lack skills to make it last Find a flight that hasn’t flown And a path not set in stone And we think it’s what we own But everybody knows Oh we’re on fire Oh we’re on fire Come on watch us burn Oh we’re on fire Yes we’re on fire (We’re) burning in the sun Oh let us burn Oh let us burn Burning in the sun Oh let us burn Burn like the sun Every night (alone) Pull the strings to animate Play the game as if it’s straight Up all night but not awake We all make the same mistake Seen so many times before Abandoned on the floor Independence we adore But it’s too much of a chore and you think it’s final and you think it’s final
7.	Dalliance 02:37 video	lyrics	buy track
And he left her standing there A final picture, one last stare Yes, he thought he’d done no harm If this was all on just a whim Why suffer through all that again? And so he held his head up high And so she let him wander off This greatly simplified her thoughts Does this mean they don’t belong? She cared not much for second chance Thus ended their brief dalliance Was it best? Well, who’s to know?
8.	A Lonely Place 04:06	lyrics	buy track
If I ask myself the simplest He’ll debate me to no end “Isn’t that the same for everyone?” You don’t understand my point Gonna find myself a lonely place One with sunlit grass, scattered trees Wind beneath the waves As you start to climb the infinite I’ve got one more thought to add Consider just the scale you’re up against Why’d you even take a step? Gonna find myself a lonely place One with sunlit grass, scattered trees Wind beneath the waves Gonna find myself a lonely place One with sunlit grass, scattered trees Wind beneath the waves
9.	Amends 03:49	lyrics	buy track
My favorite to condescend Let’s leave this house and go These people here; I’m at wits end They buzz my mind with the snow Don’t wait for it Don’t wait for him Don’t wait for it I don’t understand what’s taking you Why must you be so slow? We have this chance but not for long It’s time to grab and go Glory day Glory day Glory day Wait I want you to stay I don’t want to change I’m losing my name Stay Why can’t you just stay? I want you to change I’m losing my name If this new false reality Is what you call amends I can’t accept your empty words Or all their false pretense Don’t wait for it Don’t wait for him Don’t wait for it I’ll wait for a sign Glory day Glory day Glory day Stay Why can’t you just stay? I don’t want to fade I’m losing my name
10.	Gold Stars 03:15	lyrics	buy track
I wonder what’s become of all your cardboard paper dolls and clothes And if you still have all your gold stars That once shown bright That fade at night And drift from sight Are you all right? You hurry on; you have so little time; the background noise is loud But in between I’m hearing your voice It’s still so bright Even at night Far out of sight You’ll be all right
11.	Don't Get To Know Me 04:02	lyrics	buy track
If you must remember this I’m only on the cusp of it I don’t know why I am here I feel so out of place If you had a single thought That might be seen as negative I’ll bet it was honest The subject was surely me. Understand that I was taught To tuck my thoughts and prayers away I saved them for someone and kept them from me I haven’t had the kind of life To place upon a pedestal Don’t lock steps beside me I surely will drag you down, down, down, down Oh, don’t get to know me Let’s all stay lonely All you ever have to do is break a smile To take my breath away My defenses are nothing When you come around I haven’t had the kind of life that leads itself To fame or high regard Don’t lock steps beside me I surely will drag you down Oh, don’t get to know me Let’s all stay lonely

about

The Great Pretend is Should's fourth album and the first since 2011's Like a Fire Without Sound — a gentle but idiosyncratic collection of dream pop that marked the Baltimore band's return from a 13-year hiatus. That same year, Captured Tracks reissued Should's 1995 debut A Folding Sieve in an expanded form as the inaugural release of the label's Shoegaze Archive Series, which has since included reissues by Medicine and For Against.

Throughout its 11 songs, The Great Pretend demonstrates that Should has flourished creatively in the interim. While still informed by their shoegaze and dream pop roots, the album twists and turns, subverting expectations.

The mono-chord, krautrock groove of the opener "Don't Send Me your Regrets" gives way to elegant, lush pop of "Loveless Devotion" - only to morph abruptly into an endless refrain atop heavy toms and buzzing guitars. The strident guitar and emphatic drums of "Mistakes are Mine" turns on a dime to an orchestrated, drumless bridge.

But the album is still stamped with Should's signatures: Marc Ostermeier and Tanya Maus' harmonies on "In Monotone" and "A Lonely Place" and the churning shoegaze wash of "Dalliance," which harkens back to the band's debut and will no doubt be relished by longtime fans.

The starkest contrasting hues of Should's expanded songwriting palette lie between the unabashed Factory post-punk tones of "Amends" and "Don't Get To Know Me," a 3/4-time piano vamp embellished with increasing layers of orchestration as the album closes.

credits

released March 25, 2014

Marc Ostermeier : instruments + vocals
Tanya Maus : vocals
Sara Ostermeier : bells on Don't Get To Know Me

All songs written and recorded by Marc Ostermeier
except Loveless Devotion written by Nik Brinkman and Bevan Smith

Published 2014 Words On Music
except Loveless Devotion published by Blackwood Music and Native Tongue America

Cover art by William Keckler

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about

Should Baltimore, Maryland

Formed during the first wave of North American dream pop/shoegaze over a quarter-century ago, through three albums, an EP, and sundry singles Should have continued to showcase a penchant for the unexpected, the ability to find beauty in the minimal, and balance the twin peaks of sound and songcraft. ... more

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