From emo pioneers to now emo revivalists, Time Spent Driving have been writing their own brand of post-punk music for over a decade. The group announced their signing with North Carolina record label Cardigan Records for their first release since 2007. The brand new album, entitled Passed & Presence, is out now and can be purchased through iTunes, as well as physically through Cardigan Records’ website.
Check out the exclusive track-by-track below, along with the full album stream.
Track By Track
1. Through the Cage
This song was written as Gentlemen of Japan (band featuring members of TSD) was winding down prior to reforming Time Spent Driving, and we feel it very much captures the many different elements of our sound all in a single song. It’d be pretty hard to describe exactly where this song’s coming from lyrically, but if you could wrap panic attacks, being trapped in a box, running out of air, obsessive compulsive disorder, racing thoughts, death and depression all in one nice little package, that’s along the lines of the origin of the feeling here—but it’s also about that feeling slowly getting better over time to the point where it’s manageable. Yes, as you can tell, it’s a happy one.
2. Applelike
The title references the “apple of your eye” saying, (the pupil of the eye (the round, dark center) was called the ‘apple’. It was thought that the pupil was a round object much like an apple (a piece of fruit). When you look at someone, their reflection appears in your pupil. So if someone is the ‘apple of your eye’, he or she is someone that you look at a lot and enjoy seeing.) Even when you are that to someone, you want to feel like you are as well. Sometimes it’s on you, sometimes it’s on them. Sometimes you want to be better for that person, and it doesn’t always come easy.
3. Weight of the Water
To continue on our happy journey, if taken literally this one’s basically about being drowned in a lake, pinned to the bottom with cinderblocks and chains, but being totally ok with it—feeling better because of it. In actuality it’s I guess I would say it’s more about wanting less stress, less distractions, less worries and less headaches. Peace and calm—it’s something that’s hard to come by it seems. This one also sounded great completely acoustic on the original writing demo, so we’ll probably try to do an acoustic version at some point if we can.
4. Sheep Shaped Words
This is actually the oldest song on the record. I believe it was first written in 2002, shortly after we recorded our first full-length, Just Enough Bright. We just never finished it up, so we dusted it off and shined it up, and now it’s finally seeing the light of day. It acts as a good bridge between our older and newer material—but it’s definitely one of our more poppy songs. We joked around during recording that it was our “song of the summer”. It’s about leaving and coming back repeatedly and wanting it to work. Based on my experience, it never does.
5. Blame the Valley
One of our favorites, this was the newest song written for the record. It was one of those songs that was written entirely in one sitting, in a moment of anger and frustration, with an acoustic guitar through a mic on an iPad into Garageband to layer the different guitar parts and ideas. It’s rare when that happens, but those are often some of the best ones. It’s basically an open letter and the lyrics speak for themselves. Case in point: “All they want, is their check, just a figure, not a father.”
6. #sixzeros
This one was written years ago while the band was inactive, but the lyrics and structure were refined over time until we recorded in its final form. It was meant to be drawn out and somewhat atmospheric. It ended up spanning several topics, all of which are stem from having to appear like everything’s fine on the outside, while on the inside it’s not. On the inside it can be dark and painful. The title references the hex color code for black in web/graphic design, which is #000000.
7. Skins and Knees
Sometimes the best songs are the ones that sound like they’re about someone else, when they’re really about yourself. Historically most of our songs have been about someone else or something else—but the perspective on this album is a lot more from the outside looking in, and this one’s an example of that. The bulk of this song was written years ago, probably around 2007, and reiterated once we started playing again. We didn’t want to be afraid of keeping it raw, straight-forward and simple in a way that we feel is uncharacteristic and a little uncomfortable for us.
8. Hey, You Dropped Something
The title is lifted from our good friend Joe Clements who recorded our record. When someone around him in a band or whatever drops a name, he points to the ground and says “Hey, you dropped something….” Usually people have no idea what it means but it’s super funny. The track is partially about name dropping (I’m not a fan), but also figuring situations or people out, and where you fit in. We wanted to keep this song fairly short and sweet, and choppy yet smooth. The rhythm is deceptively complicated.
9. I’m Not Done With You
When I was sending a few rough demos of songs to everyone towards the end of the writing process, I accidentally included this one without meaning to. Next thing you know everyone got excited about playing it and it ended up being the last song we finished up before going into record, and it ended up becoming one of our favorites on the record. I’d say in a way this is the track that changed the most from the initial writing version to the final version we recorded, and it’s also the first song we laid vocals down on in the studio. This one’s about aging and being thankful to both yourself and those around you for what you have, even though it’s not always all roses. It’s about playing music. It’s about not giving up or slowing down. It’s about the peaks and valleys. It’s about just getting started.
