Other Lives – For Their Love review

The American Way™ seems to require a number of sacrifices, not least of which is the cost of having to make distance between you and it in order to get a sense of perspective. Formerly of Oklahoma, Other Lives songwriter Jesse Tabish moved from bohemian Portland with his wife to a rustic, A-frame house in the rural Cooper Mountain region of Oregon, attempting in the process to relocate the essence of his country’s aching modern-day spirit.

What emerged from these writing sessions was a dynamically redrawn picture of the land which the singer had grown up in, one from which For Their Love draws both inspiration and a sense of foreboding. The musical backdrop to this new horizon is by contrast far from as serious as the subjects the prose covers, a mix of baroque folk, doom-laden country and on the trailblazing We Wait the grainy flashes of a dozen Spaghetti Westerns.

There is a darker backstory here as well; Tabish was a founder member of the All American Rejects and We Wait deals with the alleged murder of one of his friends by a band associate. It’s bleak precept shows that capturing the essence of America is the ultimate fool’s errand, but on For Their Love Other Lives are able to do what many cannot by painting it with some compassion and humanity – in doing so, they beat the drum for hope.

You can read the full review here.