Every Record I Own - Day 492: The Austerity Program Bible Songs 1
This is an album highlight of 2019.
It’s New Years Eve and I have a backlog of records from this past year that I want to talk about, so we’re gonna keep talking about highlights of 2019 well into 2020. But today, in the waning hours of the decade, I wanna talk about The Austerity Program.
I’d known Justin and Thad from Austerity Program ever since they did a few shows with Russian Circles and Daughters back in 2008. A few years later I’d move to New York and I’d see them out at shows. The geographic proximity led to me interviewing them for Noisey upon the release of their second album Beyond Calculation. One of my favorite bits from our discussion came up when we talked about their instrumentation. Justin dropped this bit of wisdom:
I like the idea of a band having some parameters in which they operate. There's nothing wrong if a band shifts members, instruments, and focus. But when a band commits itself to a particular way of operating and then really forces itself to develop ideas in that area... I just think it's phenomenal when they can continue to make interesting music that doesn't repeat its past. The realms of possibility that you mention stretch this: are there any parameters? Because if there aren't, then I'm usually left kinda cold as a listener.
That philosophy struck a chord with me. Instead of seeing musical evolution as this bigger/better/shinier approach, they viewed their progress by how they could continue to sculpt new songs using the same limited means. It's not about growth and expansion; it’s about thriving within your limitations. It’s one of those seemingly benign comments that re-calibrated my way of thinking.
Fast forward another five years. It’s June 2019 and SUMAC is doing a week’s worth of shows in Europe with The Austerity Program and Daniel Menche. We’re all in one van with no A/C. It’s brutally hot and muggy. I’m dealing with vocal cord paralysis so I can’t talk. I’m also dealing with the lingering vestiges of a two-month gut bug I picked up in Australia, so most of my waking hours are spent wondering where the nearest toilet is located. And I have a knee issue where sitting for prolonged periods causes a low-level ache in the joint. The drives are long and sleep is in short supply. In other words, I’m fucking miserable pretty much every waking moment. The tour is routed around a couple of festivals, and as is often the case with the summer vacation season in Europe, the fill-date club shows are under-attended. It’s not a comfortable tour for anyone involved. But we had Justin and Thad with us. And every night, no matter the circumstances, they got on stage and blasted the hell out of an unsuspecting crowd with tracks from Bible Songs 1.
And every night Austerity Program reminded me to be thankful. They reminded me that this music was meant to be uncomfortable. It’s meant to be a struggle. They reminded me not to think about how things could be bigger and better, but rather how to reign in misery. They don’t offer the kind of escapism where you stick your head in the sand and try to forget that the world is trying to grind you down and make a buck off your ashes. Instead, Austerity Program shrugs and says “yup, and if you think that’s rough, get a load of this...”
And that made it all better.
