Thrice - The Whaler
Thrice are a really interesting band,
who have seemed to be a constant part of my playlists ever since high school. As I grew, and my tastes changed, they grew and changed as a band, so they've always felt relevant to me. They were formed in 1998 in Irvine, CA by Dustin Kensrue (guitar/vocals), Teppei Teranishi (guitar), Eddie Breckenridge (bass), and Eddie's brother Riley Brecknridge (drums). The groups line-up has remained the same since it's inception, which is a testament to how well these four work together. Their early music was definitely metal-core/hardcore heavy, but by 2003, they were experimenting more with different sounds, and more interesting rhythmic and harmonic ideas, which allowed them to evolve with every subsequent album.
Listen to The Whaler by Thrice here.
This song is from the band's
fifth album, 2007's The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II: Fire and Water, a double album, which is part of a four part series (Fire, Water, Air and Earth). The Fire portion of the album is definitely the most intense and heaviest of the four, and shows the band's early influences a bit more, but the Water section is very different than anything they had done before. It's much more 'clean', with a lot of electronic instrumentation. This song is my favorite from the Water portion, and really shows how much the band had grown at this point. The song uses an odd meter (I'd call it 10/8), but it manages to feel really groovy; harmonically, its a really beautiful song, and Kensrue's lyrics really work nicely.
