From the sprawling suburbs of Mahwah, New Jersey comes a sprawling epic from Titus Andronicus with the album “The Monitor.”
A concept album based on the American Civil War, Titus Andronicus invokes the images Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis in contrast with the current state of the Jersey suburbs and the challenges faced in everyday life.
From the opening of the album in “A More Perfect Union,” (which features an excerpt from Lincoln’s speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, IL in which he says, “All the armies of Europe and Asia could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio River or set a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years”) there is an air of patriotism to the album. “A More Perfect Union” closes with chants of “Rally around the flag” before fading into lines from William Lloyd Garrison’s inaugural edition of “The Liberator,” in which he wrote, “I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.”
“A More Perfect Union” sets the stage for the entire album. Every single song carries a certain energy behind it that wraps the listener into this story. It is nearly impossible to view this album as individual songs. Each song sets up the next one and is important to the overarching narrative. While “A More Perfect Union” has a triumphant feel, the second track, “Titus Andronicus Forever,” does away with this feeling behind chants of “The enemy is everywhere” and Lincoln’s proclamation of “I am now the most miserable man living.”
Interspersed with the historical aspects of the album is the domestic life of being from Mahwah, NJ. In “No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future,” lead singer Patrick Stickles groans, “Senior year here in Mahwah, a new world just around the corner / Leave me behind, let me stagnate, in a fortress of solitude” in response to the state of his life. The song builds from a quiet beginning, culminating with screams of “You will always be a loser” in one of the eeriest portions of the album.
With eight of the 10 tracks on the album timing in at over five minutes, it’s easy to see how “The Monitor” can be described as sprawling. The five minute “Richard II” sets up the heart of the sprawl with “A Pot in Which to Piss” and “Four Score and Seven,” the fifth and sixth tracks, timing in at 8:54 and 8:39, respectively. These two songs are the embodiment of “The Monitor” and both form the crux of the entire album.
“A Pot in Which to Piss” opens with lines from Davis’ “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” before Stickles whispers and groans the opening of the song, “Nothing means anything anymore.” A long instrumental interlude sets up the climax of the song where the band has a never-say-die attitude and where a gritty Stickles sings, “There’s a white flag in my pocket never to be unfurled.”
The never giving up of “A Pot in Which to Piss” is followed by a candid “Four Score and Seven,” where doubt is shown. Stickles softly sings lines like “This is a war we can’t win” and “When they see the kind of person that you really are / Then you won’t be laughing so hard” before the song picks up in the second half with frantic yells of “It’s still us against them.” Stickles leaves the listener feeling uneasy with the last line of “And they’re winning,” setting up the final stretch of the album.
“Theme From ‘Cheers’” and “To Old Friends and New” pull the tempo of the album back to a feeling of contemplation before the penultimate track, “…And Ever.” This track features a return of the mantra “The enemy is everywhere” along with lines from Stickles like “Oh I’m worthless and weak / And I’m sick and I’m scared / And the enemy is everywhere.” All of this sets up the crown jewel and grand finale of “The Monitor.”
“The Battle of Hampton Roads” is based on the battle of the same name (also known as the Battle of the “Monitor” and “Merrimack”) which took place on March 8-9, 1862. The battle ended in a draw, but set the stage for future naval battles where use of ironclad ships was set forth as a trend of the future.
The ultimate track for Titus Andronicus times in at 14:02, a marathon of a song for any listener. The full time is filled with different instrumental breakdowns and musings from Stickles like “The things I used to love I have come to reject / The things I used to hate I have learned to accept / And the worst of the three you now have to expect” and “Is there a boy in this town that’s not exploding with hate?”
The song slows at the nine-minute mark, where a bagpipe solo emerges and rebuilds the energy of the song for last three minutes of hopeful sounding guitar riffs and closure.
While suburban New Jersey may be struggling to make ends meet, Patrick Stickles and the rest of Titus Andronicus look to history for the hope that good will triumph and that things, no matter how dim they may seem, can always become better.
Dan Gallen can be reached for comment at [email protected]