“Owes as much to acts like Pixies as it does contemporary post-punk, and packs a real punch with its sardonic charm. In a world of productivity and parasitic middle managers, giving up might be one of the last radical acts left available to us.” So we wrote of ‘Quitting’ back in January, a recent single from the forthcoming full-length Truth Come Alive by Toronto’s Arenas. The track used, as we continued, “a blend of playful energy and tangible weight to celebrate the cathartic joy of throwing in the towel,” and now the entire album has been released, it is clear this melding of joyous motion and tangible heft is a signature of Truth Come Alive as a whole.
“The album […] grew out of a really patient process,” the band explain. “[It] started to become about the writing process itself, and how tricky details can be when you get stuck in the mire of decision making.” Consisting of Michael Scott (lead vocals, drums), Kelly Steinhoff (guitar), Camila Milla (guitar, backing vocals) and Christopher Scott (bass, backing vocals), and enlisting Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck, July Talk, Sam Roberts Band) and Justin Perkins (The Replacements, The Gaslight Anthem, Screeching Weasel) for production and mastering respectively, Arenas utilise their aforementioned style to push through this potential sticking point.
The title track is the ideal entry point for newcomers to the band. A song which encompasses the dualities inherent within the Arenas sound—be it the interplay between quiet introspection and anthemic soar, or the blend of earnest emotion and wry humour which constitutes the lyrics. “Truth Come Alive is a remark about the lengths humans will go to avoid their own realities, a snake in the grass waiting for fate,” as the band explain. The track digs into this idea with a tone both confessional and sardonic. “Wait, could you give me a break?” Scott sings, “Cut my legs at the waist / Walk around for a day in my shoes / You- Oh I never let you in.” But while this sounds like an individual calling out the truth as they see it, a sense of denial runs alongside it too.
I was woken
Up by branches of daylight
Give me something
Oh, whatever you likeI throw my head back
And then you can decide
It’s the morning time
But I’m closing my eyes, uh oh.
