Album Review - "How Long" By The Tower and The Fool

You know all those feelings you pretend you don't have? The forlorn ones that you watch movies about or read books about and pretend that they happen to other people and not yourself? The Tower and The Fool will remind you that you do have them. Just get that box of tissues out before even turning How Long on.

Don't let that fear of feeling deter you though. Every song, even the few you've heard before, will cut right to the bone, words to remind you how it feels to actually feel something. (And that's what we're all striving for these days isn't it?) I made the mistake (or very right choice) of listening to it for the first time around late at night and found myself caught up in way too many feelings and wide awake for longer than I would have expected.

"Dive Bar" reminds me of every love that didn't really make sense but I held on to just to hold on to it. "Maybe you're pinning over something you never even had in the first place / maybe you fell in love with the feeling and not the girl." If that doesn't remind you of something you've never been in love in the first place. While other musicians are idealizing love, which yes, works because we all want an ideal love, Tower isn't afraid to point out the raw side. "Who Does She Think She Is?" is a slow reminder that love sucks and when it ends it doesn't just go away overnight, no matter what you try.

All the while though, while you're having your heart ripped out or remembering every bit of heartache you've ever felt, How Long is music perfection. The collection of artists that make up the band, beyond frontmen Chris and Alex, are infinitely talented and it shows in every single note. The feelings you've avoided might be brought up again, but it will be a ride you can't help but enjoy every step of the way.

I think in the end it was "Valentine's Day" that brought out my tears. It was close with some of the others, and I do love the newer version of "My Heart Is Dead in NYC" (since the version that went onto their first release was slow enough to leave a girl laying on the floor with the record player going). It's likely the close friends I've made in my travels, the honor I've had of meeting so many of the people so closely related to this album and scene, but "I just wished I was back in Boston next to you" made me miss all my friends more than I thought I could.

Stream the album at the Run For Cover Records bandcamp page, and pick up your copy there as well. It hits iTunes on Friday, but it's cheaper off the bandcamp page. Do it. You won't regret it. Trust me.

Posted in: album review, music, the tower and the fool