66. David Bazan - “With You”

Everybody has their flaws, and no artist seems to know this better than David Bazan. His tracks always seem to have a viscid urgency to them, an earnest yet apathetic approach, incisive yet realistic. Its like listening to someone really deeply and philosophically pick apart life only to end their diatribe with a shrug of the shoulders – a sort of dismissive “well who knows if that’s even true, or if I even believe that” type of qualification that either indicates a humble honesty or a lack of confidence, both of which seem to turn any point that may have been made into a flaccid and jumbled mess.

David Bazan is a master of this sort of self-deprecating honesty, of stubbornly holding onto an opinion even while undercutting it. He’s like that one uncle every white family seems to have – only the next evolution of said uncle. He’s not overly conservative and offensive, he’s simply overly realistic and pessimistic (which when insisted upon can be just as awkward as the prior). He has an aura of self-loathing, and its as endearing as it is depressing.

In this track specifically he attacks both himself and his spouse. He points out both of their shortcomings in a brutally honest and straightforward fashion. Its like shaving off all the superfluous topsoil of love and getting to the bedrock, the realistic glue of commitment and determination that holds together a relationship through thick and thin. Its the antithesis of any sort of fairy tale love story, but its also the antithesis of giving up and taking the easy way out. It shows a determination and grit, a sort of “the world is shit – we may even be shit, but we have each other and that’s enough for me.” Its holding onto whats good despite the commotion of the world constantly trying to tarnish and scuff it. Its authentic and real, and that’s what I appreciate most about it.