Day 96: Album Review And Hello, Parental Units
July 15, 2017
Mile 1325.50 Campsite to Mile 1328.82 Chester, CA
I had some motivation to hike the three miles into town today. Not that I really needed any motivation to hike only three miles to the promised land that flows with milkshakes and beer. Anyway, last night Dayseeker came out with their new record Dreaming is Sinking /// Waking is Rising and it’s soooo good. Not that anyone really cares, or even knows who Dayseeker is let alone listens to hardcore/post-hardcore/metalcore/etc. But since this is my blog, you are at the mercy of whatever I choose to incessantly babble on about.
So for those who don’t know (which is all of you) Dayseeker is a post-hardcore/metalcore band meaning they scream and sing in their music and it’s really far too complicated to explain it all, but anyway this album is brilliant. It’s more aggressive sounding than their previous work yet there’s still loads of singing and more quiet/emotional parts as well. It’s incredibly dynamic for a band in this music scene. Most artists just go for the heaviest songs they can write and usually that’s the formula for a good record. I certainly patronize the heavy album formula, but I love it when artists really push themselves to write something unique and different that breaks the mold.
What is really amazing about how they incorporated the heavy and soft parts in this collection of songs is even when the vocalist goes into a singing voice and the distortion of the guitars lessens and the drums subside there is still a driving force to the music. There’s no accelerando in the tempo, no crescendo, just really well designed chord to evoke the emotion necessary to keep you on the edge of your seat until the song lets loose again and returns to being super heavy with screaming vocals. It’s one of the best albums I have heard in the last few years.
Okay, back to hiking if you were able to make it through my album review. So we made it to the highway in a little over an hour and stuck out our thumbs to hitch a ride into town. We have had really good luck with hitchhiking so far, but that seemed to have run out today. Everyone passed us as they drove by. We were there for 15 minutes before another hiker showed up also trying to get into town. We wound up waiting for about 30 minutes before finally getting a ride. We determined that most of those driving by were vacationers at the lake nearby and probably unaware that we were hikers and not homeless scum trying to leech off of society (that was sarcasm in case you didn’t catch that). The lady that picked us up was super nice, though. The people who have picked us up have always been incredibly kind to us.
Once in town Glowworm and I first went into the post office to try to pick up my new shoes. Unfortunately, the post office wasn’t open and we’ll have to wait until Monday before we’re able to retrieve the package.
After being thwarted at the post office, we headed to the Pine Shack Frosty for lunch. I ordered a cheeseburger and a one liter (32 oz.) sized milkshake. It was glorious. Well, it was glorious until a kind stranger apparently bought both Glowworm and I an additional sandwich. While I was completely overwhelmed by their generosity, it turned out to be the death of me. Since I am an American through and through, it is my patriotic duty to defend our freedom by devouring every single calorie that lay before me as is tradition in our country. But yeah, I felt like a beached whale afterwards and proceeded to sit their semi-unconciously until my parents surprised me by coming into the restaurant when they arrived.
It was great to see my parents after three months away from home. I don’t think I had really processed how long it had been since for me it’s pretty much been a whirlwind since leaving for Long Beach back in April. They’ve had a lot of time to contemplate how much they miss me. Not that I haven’t missed them, I just haven’t been able to think about it as much.
They were finally able to meet Glowworm and we all went out for pizza before doing some laundry and eventually crashing for the night in the nicest hotel room we’ve stayed in since starting this trail (thanks mom and dad).
