Fred Thomas - Holland Tunnel

Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lakes State! Fred Thomas, the guy behind Saturday Looks Good to Me (one of my favorite current bands), released a solo album this fall. It's his first wide-distribution record, though he's one of the most insanely prolific artists I can think of and has a bunch of limited-release LPs and 7" in his back catalog.

They've all been good, but nowhere near as great as Sink Like a Symphony is. It's a departure from the Motown-ish production of SLGTM, and a dive into the elliptical, wordy, deeply emotional territory that band's only begun to explore with songs like "Dialtone" or "When the Party Ends." Think of Neutral Milk Hotel without the WWII/semen fixation, or Bright Eyes but catchier and less whiny. This is an album invested in place, in the state and cities (Ann Arbor/Detroit) Thomas lives in, and in the experiences of those places.

So naturally I've decided to focus on a song about the Holland Tunnel. It's got everything I like about Thomas - surreal imagery, bits of narratives, clever rhymes and an almost aphoristic lyricism. The song jumps around, starting with Fred asleep in the backseat of a car driving through the tunnel realizing "things seem more important when you're underwater." Later, he remembers sleeping with a girl who took Polaroids of every guy she had, a girl who spread her entire collection out for him to see - and it kinda freaks him out. But they stand on the balcony of her apartment holding hands, up forty stories where "your cares and your worries fall down to the street" and suddenly Fred's pulled you from back humor to seriousness in a line. He's like that, at his best - and that's what this song and this album are (it's one of the best of the year from anybody, actually). He'll be coming back through here in the spring, I hope, and I can't wait to see him again.

Download: Fred Thomas - Holland Tunnel