Staples-The Boy Least Likely To

Looking back on the summer of 2005, there were a number of records that I listened to over and over again,[1. Including The White Stripes Get Behind me Satan, Sleater-Kinney’s The Woods, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled debut.] but the one that feels the most important to me at the moment is The Boy Least Likely To’s The Best Party Ever. If you wanted a handbook for all of the overly dramatic emotions you’re likely to go through in your late teens and mid-twenties, you cannot do better than this record.

Let’s get this out of the way first. The album is twee as fuck. Twee-er (twee-est? twee-most? twee-a-saurus rex?) than anything else I regularly listen to. If you manage to pay very little attention, it sounds like a children’s cd. Some of the songs are seemingly written from the point of view of plants and bears. I mean, look at the album cover pictured above. That is EXACTLY what the record sounds like. As such, this record is not for everyone. BUT, if you’re willing to look past that, then what’s left is a really great album. The opening track, "Be Gentle With Me," has a banjo-plucked melody for the ages:



That banjo-plucked melody and innocent sentiment became my anthem for the summer of 2005. So much so that while I was driving with a co-worker midway through the summer, she having only heard the song a few times, she asked: "this is you right? Travis, this is you. Just be gentle with you!" Having not realized it before, I exclaimed "yes! that is me!" Which was cool until I remembered a few of the lyrics: "I'm happy because I'm stupid" or "because I'm mental / be gentle with me." Right, anyhow, the real point is that I played this song all the time for everyone, and despite it's twee nature, people liked it (see, kids, music can make you friends! Sighs).



Despite the album's spritely sound, there are some dark moments on The Best Party Ever. The second half of the record is certainly a little more melancholy and reflective than the first. In an interview with Pitchfork, singer Jof Owen discussed the dichotomy:

Well, writing the album kind of fell into two halves. Most of it was written when I was happy in a relationship, and the rest of it was written after that relationship had fallen apart. I guess it's kind of obvious which songs are which.

The toughest moment on the record plays out on "The Battle of the Boy Least Likely To," as the singer tries to move on after being left. Jof Owen effortlessly describes the eternal struggle of deciding whether to move on: "and I can't get used to being alone / and I won't get used to being alone." The indecision becomes desperate later in the song: "under a full moon / hopelessly trying to / retrace our footsteps in the snow / I don't know when to hang on / and when to let go." There's no happy ending here, just as there is rarely a happy ending within the specific and isolated act of moving on. It's brilliant, though. At that time, I didn't need a happy ending to identify with the song, I needed someone to share my sorrows with and know that someone had been there before, struggled with moving on, and yet everything ended up fine.



The next stop on the emotional roller-coaster / self-help guide that is The Best Party Ever is "Hugging My Grudge." What do people do in their early twenties besides wallow in self-pity?[1. Drink and wallow in self-pity. Listen to music and wallow in self-pity. I think pretty much everything can be done while wallowing in self-pity, even starting new relationships.] Which can certainly be done with this record.  I don't think that's ever been captured better lyrically than here: "I don't think / I'll ever be / happy unless I'm unhappy / and hugging my grudge." On "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star," Owen discusses the relief in learning to appreciate a failed love for what it was, and not what it wasn't:[1. "but I couldn't help but notice how / the little things that used to make us happy made us sad / but still I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star / I never would've got here if I'd followed my heart...I'm happy if you're happy but it breaks my heart / I didn't even notice it til it fell apart / but still I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star."]



I spent most of the summer of 2005 driving around in a 20 year-old van over-loaded with concrete and lumber, but the one thing that the van did have was a working tape deck. Everything I listened to that summer was recorded from cd over to tape, including this record. Despite the shitty sound quality that is the inherent outcome of that process, the musicianship on "Paper Cuts" was still readily apparent. It recalls a little bit of the Beach Boys, and provides yet another lesson (this time-"they're just paper cuts / I shouldn't beat myself up / over little things the way I do"), and a valuable one if you spent your summer making myriad mistakes as I did.



It's quite an accomplishment that The Boy Least Likely to made a record that is so wounded and personal in its nature yet so easily identifiable in its emotions. And I wish I could say that I took all of those lessons to heart the moment I heard the record (wait...no I don't), but who doesn't love to hug their grudge every now and then?