New Granada Records – July 10, 2020
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Bob Nanna has been crafting emotional tunes for close to 3 decades already, and one would think the proverbial well is bound to run dry… but it hasn’t yet. The Midwestern emo-punk pioneer is probably your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter. The former frontman of Friction, Braid and Hey Mercedes has released a new solo album Celebration States.
Per a press release Celebration States was recorded entirely on what would have been Nanna’s wedding anniversary and documents the year surrounding his divorce. Celebration States should be listened to from start to finish in order as it tells a story of love, loss and redemption. Although there are ten tracks on this effort, Nanna walks us through the five stages of grief, a cathartic healing over an acoustic guitar.
Celebration States opens with the denial stage on “Do You Want to Buy a Guitar?” Its a stirring opener as Nanna likens his love to dusty instruments in the corner, trying to rationalize the separation felt between himself and the body he used to love to make music with.
“Mr. Albatross” is definitely the anger track, a whispered pipe-bomb of blame, that sings off the ex. “All my weight is yours to take, my gift to you in lieu of cake,” might be the most beautiful fuck you ever uttered, and the album is just getting started.
Celebration States begins to explore the bargaining process on “Come Home” as the singer-songwriter begs for the return of his estranged Mrs, promising to refurbish their home and make more time for one another. When the listener gets to listen to “In Reverse,” the honesty is nearly uncomfortable as we hear Nanna discuss the depression he is going through and his reliance upon medication to just make it through the day. To increase the anxiety we hear on the track there is an out of key and off the beat electronic bass pulsing behind the song. The removal of rhythm this creates furthers the emotive despair in the track, forcing the audience to focus on and confront the lyrics head on.
The final five songs on the album slowly and subtly show the path of acceptance, so much so that Nanna has actually managed to write the stages of grief into “Spinning Pitchers of Sunlight,” and let the audience know he has accepted everything yet, but is getting there. Few songs will ever encapsulate the uncertainty of moving on after love lost the way that “Instant Chemistry” does. The song traces the spectrum of emotions we have all felt when we try to rebound; the self-doubt, the inferiority, the guilt. It is here we see Nanna begin to accept both the ending and the beginning. This leads to “Don’t Come Home,” a sincere goodbye and well-wishes, an opportunity to admit that his ex wasn’t the one who got away because she was the one who wasn’t meant to be there that long.
“Life is gorgeous again” is repeated throughout the album closer, the aptly titled “Denouement,” a song of romantic and personal redemption. Celebration States is a more honest, personal and finished of The Good Life classic Album of the Year, a quintessential break up album that hits just a strongly no matter what the listener’s relationship status is. This hits all the notes, dissonant and harmonious, and shows off Nanna’s excellence with both a pen and a guitar.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
