- 2022-12-05
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MUSIC
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half•alive Releases New Album “Conditions Of A Punk”: Streaming
Long Beach-based alt-pop trio half·alive, consisting of Josh Taylor, Brett Kramer and J. Tyler Johnson, released their sophomore album “Conditions Of A Punk” on December 2, 2022 via RCA Records.
The album consists of two part. Initially, the album title was “Give Me Your Shoulders”.
Back in February, the trio released the EP “Give Me Your Shoulders Pt. 1” as part 1 of the album.
In October, the band announced that the album title was officially “Conditions Of A Punk”.
The album comprises 18-track, including the previous 7-track from the EP, featuring guest appearance from Irish singer-songwriter Orla Gartland.
Josh Taylor said of the album, “Conditions Of A Punk is the first album where we allowed ourselves to write on the topic of love. If Now, Not Yet was more cerebral, this sophomore release is more emotional. It's the breaking & mending of a heart, it's the realigning of a soul. It's an expression of a breakup & a healing, it's both about a person & God in the same breath. It's summer to winter & back again.”- He continued, “As for the title: friends who've known me for the past decade will often say 'you were such a punk back then'. I usually respond in agreement, knowing that at least in the cut & dry, self serving, egotistical, provoking sense of the word— I could relate. In the last 10 years I've become less of a punk in that way only because of an unlearning of what I thought Love was, both with a person & God. I accepted love as a choice rather than a feeling. That loving requires a very painful & ongoing death of ego.. & if love is willing the good of another above my own— the ego has to die.”
He added, “COAP explores that undoing of love, & the death of the punk.” -
Josh Taylor explained of some tracks for the album.
“Summerland”
“'Summerland' was created from a conversation about patterns I had with my uncle in Oakland sometime last year, specifically, about the patterns of life as seen through the seasons… How the seasons show us the same pattern of the day, & of our life stage, & so much more. I became so fascinated by this pattern & how structural it is to music & art & literature.. The romance & fruit of summer (noon, maturity), giving way to the dramatic dying of Autumn (sunset, old age), to the death of Winter (midnight, death), & the rebirth of Spring (sunrise, youth).
We've always wanted to write a summer song, but the depth of this story made it feel like the summer song of all summer songs. It's night swims & dancing & late nights with friends & the beach & sun tans, but it's so much more as well. Summer is the beginning & the end of the story, the golden hour of romance, where all of life is at peace with God & each other & in ourselves, where freedom is savored & where we want to remain forever. So at a glance, it's just a summer song, but under the surface, it's that & so much more.”
“High Up”
“'High Up' is a love song about killing the projected idea of love in exchange for what it actually is. throughout the song I'm speaking to Love as a person, as if its going to kill the current idea of what I thought Love to be.."behind your back a cold surprise in favor of the 3rd degree. I took a breath & took the knife, no i won't defend the killer in me.
I co-directed the video alongside my new friend Kevin Clark. Within 10 minutes of first meeting each other, we already had the concept for the video..both of us feeling drawn to the visual of a car driving through rain soaked streets in the middle of LA. like a downpour of emotion, flooding the streets of my mind, begging me to react to it...within 2 weeks we were on set watching a rain machine dump water on my 1980s Mercedes as 30 friends of mine run circles around it. somehow i convinced them it would be a good time. everyone got soaked. The film was accomplished. high fives & smiles all around.”
“Hot Tea”
“Hot Tea is the deep longing to be touched by life. A desperate desire to love someone with sacred, caring hands and be loved by people & God & her creation. To open the eyes wide & scratch furiously at the filament on the skin, exposing it to the open air. to feel the depth of the soul & know every one of it's cavernous walls.
We shot this video on tour, representing the desperate longing with plastic- a material that is nearly invisible, yet air tight. that is the feeling. It contains & prevents pure exposure to the raw ingredients of life. an artificial, translucent barrier to the heart that i will claw at until there is nothing left.”
“Did I Make You Up?”
“'Did I Make You Up?' represents the moment of wonder; after a breakup & the dust settles, you wonder if the person you were with was the person you broke up with, or if you were simply muting their flaws & projecting who you wanted them to be.
JA has been performing with us since our very first show, so naturally, this video is in some ways an extension of that show. Those who've seen it will recognize the dance integration, as well as the giant sheet we often deploy throughout the show for shadow play. Only this time, it's 5 times as big.”
“Everything Machine”
“Everything Machine: a user interface built around a multi-touch screen. It connects to cellular networks or Wi-Fi, & can make calls, browse the web, take pictures, play music & send & receive emails & text messages. Since the Everything Machine's launch further features have been added, including larger screen sizes, shooting video, increased compulsive behavior of the user, social interaction anxiety, waterproofing, the ability to install third-party mobile apps through an app store, & many accessibility features.”
“What's Wrong”
“There is a really funny story with how the hook of the chorus 'Time's always right to fix What's Wrong' came to be. It randomly enough was actually a misquote from a conversation between Olivia Wilde & one of our creative directors Jordan, from JA Collective, who also happens to be my roommate. Olivia & JA were working together on a project a few months back & at one-point Jordan noted how absurdly difficult it is to find choreographers on IMDB, but also noted that was a pretty minor problem considering the myriad of problems 2020 had brought to light. Olivia replied 'the time is always right to do what's right,' which Jordan misquoted to me later that evening, forming the line 'Time's always right to fix what's wrong'. That line felt like the open door to address the social climate we've all been surrounded by for nearly a year now & prompted the idea of transformation of one's immediate & eventually global environment by looking inward first, to look in the mirror & realize that is where the change is going to begin.”
“Make of It”
“'Make of it' is a story in which worlds not only interconnect but bleed into one another in a messy display of beautiful-humanity. Often, we must drown to land, sink to swim, move to heal, and dive to the deepest depths to breathe again.
As always, there's so many stories that went into the making of this song. writing, production, etc. but there was one moment of clarity in the writing process one night that felt like the crux to unlock this very personal story of mine which became Make of It. That moment happened when our producer Mark (of OJIVOLTA) stared at me during one of our writing sessions & abruptly asked 'do you ever get mad? if so, would a half•alive fan who doesn't speak English be able to tell if you were just from your tone?' After thinking about the question for a while, I came to realize that there was an anger-sized hole missing in our songs. There were stories that I was restricting myself from writing because I wanted them to be perfectly processed, with happy endings to tie everything together. but sometimes the unprocessed, unhindered emotion is what the song needs. when that was realized, i turned on my mental faucet of unfiltered anger, 45 minutes later, the song was done.” - source : Apple Music
