Album Notes

The stage for the quasi-concept album "Pushing Rocks Uphill at Night" is set with the instrumental opener "Sisyphus - in the beginning." Sisyphus, that tragic figure from Greek mythology - an "absurd hero," in the words of Albert Camus - was condemned to push a rock uphill only to let it roll back down and have this scenario repeat itself ad infinitum. Sisyphus returns to close the album, but next the band drills out three fast-paced numbers of indie rock. "Unattainable Goals" mixes the thematic elements of the Sisyphean predicament with an anthemic chorus and dynamic rhythm section. Next up is "St. Peter Complex," a darker and angrier song about who controls access to the gates of entry. A cooler, hipper turm is taken on "Indie Beat" as the band pokes fun at itself while glamourizing (sort of) the life of playing small indie bars for crowds who think they're a lot cooler than you are. Things slow down a little on the dark ballad "When" - though quickly the intensity comes back full-force on the "power ballad" chorus and bridge. The band was told that this song would fit well on a "Twilight" soundtrack. The album's "side 2" begins with "Reinventing the Future," a poppy song about not knowing where reality ends and falsehood begins. "Cost of Living" takes us to intense guitar-rock as the narrator contemplates his boom-town existence from the local bar. "Implications" blends a 1960s backbeat with power chords and talks about past regrets and love lost. This sentimental mood continues on the album's penultimate song, "Happy Ending," a gentle ballad about just wanting things to work out right. The circle is completed with the final song on the album, "Sisyphus - in the end," as the following words rings out from the top of the hill: "Chasing paper like there was an end in sight/The never-dawn of an endless night/You turn and walk into the wind/And push the rock uphill again."