About a Million is the recording project of Pennsylvania’s Anthony Leitch. His latest album, Look For Me When You Get Bored, is Leitch’s thirteenth under the About a Million moniker, and deals with the ever-forward march of time. As label Already Dead Tapes and Records describe, “[Look For Me When You Get Bored] celebrates the passing of time by perfectly encapsulating his daily happenings and feelings into twelve succinct tunes that collectively span half an hour.”
The album, created during a period of free time after Leitch lost his job and chose to focus on music for a few months, was born from the tiniest seed—some chords that Leitch heard his wife playing on their piano. “I knew right away that I was making a full album with that song as the intro,” he says. Opener ‘Admit’ begins with these chords, which almost have a dial tone quality, Leitch’s gentle vocals delivering something of a mantra to recite during the mundanity of the day-to-day. “Tell yourself it will all just be okay,” he sings, “take your time and you will find there is a reason.” Eventually the song blossoms into crunchy, 90s throwback indie rock, and provides a quick intravenous rush to go with the confidence building lyrics.
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‘Ant’ is a different thing altogether, A Weather-style snaking guitar like an autumn drive through the countryside, Leitch’s vocals delivered with an effortless flow. It becomes quickly apparent that the whole album has this variation, that About a Million isn’t satisfied with settling on just one sound or song structure. From the dreamy haze of ‘Caught Up’, to the slow waltzing bedroom pop of ‘Don’t Be Afraid’, the songs are varied musically but linked by a narrative thread, the intentions that formed the basis of the record.
Side B begins with ‘Underwater’, with its acoustic guitar and pan-pipe effects, which describes growing older, before the Songs:Ohia-esque shadowy Americana of ‘I Know You’.
But it’s ‘Young Bull’ that is perhaps the side’s standout, a LVL Up style laid-back indie rock song. “I wish I could stay young forever,” Leitch sings, “that way I could break all the rules and get away with it.” It’s one of many tracks where About A Million laments growing into that long middle period of life where you’re supposed to be responsible and take care of yourself. As Already Dead describe in their write up: “It’s like that scene in Army of Darkness (1993) where the Deadites are resurrecting skeletons from a graveyard to form an army and the ringleader says to a freshly unearthed skeleton: ‘Welcome back to the land of the livin’. NOW PICK UP A SHOVEL AND GET DIGGING!'”
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The message that comes through most strongly on Look For Me When You Get Bored is that it’s okay to reject some of society’s expectations, that there are better ways of finding contentment than subjecting yourself to a daily grind. And, most importantly of all, everyone should find time to be themselves. As Leitch tells Already Dead, “I finally had the time to be who I really am without having to forcefully brush the work dust off my shoulder after getting home.”
You can get the album now from Already Dead Tapes and Records or from the About a Million Bandcamp page.
