MOES HAVEN: Moe's Haven

Moes Haven

Moe's Haven

© 2005 Matthew Farley (634479183959)

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An essential album for all college English Majors.

notes

During their four years as English majors at Providence College, Matt Farley and Tom Scalzo of Moes Haven wrote a few hundred songs together.

Since they graduated in 2000, they've written a few hundred more. Sixteen of those songs are collected on MOE'S HAVEN, an album that captures the essence of being in college. Who better than two English majors to write about the unique stage in life known as The College Years?

English Majors don't just experience college: they analyze every moment of their lives and find parallels in different passages from great literature.

This is not a concept album. There is no story being told here. It's just a collection of great songs that happen to capture the mindset of well-read people in their early 20s. If you're an English major, you'll find this album expresses all the things you've been thinking about while wandering through campus. If you're not an English major, this album will help you better understand those students who read novels more often than text books.

What happens in college?

There are the classes, of course. In "Wind" Farley mentions the names of two of his favorite courses, "Age of Johnson" and "Age of Satire." "Praise Allah" is a musical summary of Hermann Hesse's classic novel SIDDHARTHA, a book featured in many literature courses.

During the college years, students also get entangled in long-distance relationships, an issue tackled wonderfully in two tracks. "Relaxation Techniques" is sung from the point of view of an unrequited lover seeing his beloved one last time, from afar, before she leaves his life forever. "My Heart Will Go Wrong" actually celebrates the long-distance love affair. In it, the singer plainly states "far is where you belong / Because near my heart will go wrong." Later, he says, "I wanna glorify you and deify you." If she were with him all the time, he couldn't attach ethereal qualities to her - all the mundane monotony of day-to-day life would get in the way.

Students also spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives. "Is Buddhist Monk the Answer?" is a funny and oddly moving acoustic number in which the singer wonders whether leaving everything behind and meditating for the rest of his life would be the best route.

Both musically and lyrically, MOE'S HAVEN reflects the exuberance, uneasiness, tension, passion, despair, and laughter that every college student experiences. The songs are loose, raw, and ragged, employing lots of acoustic guitar, along with some piano, drums, bass, and a few other surprises.

It's the kind of album that you listen to on your headphones when you catch that rare hour of solitude in your dorm room.

Sit back and let Moes Haven sing about everything that you've been pondering all semester. You'll laugh a little, you'll cry a little, you'll think a lot.

And when it's over, you'll want to listen to it again.

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