$5.00
Retired marks an end point for a certain configuration of musicians, an end of an era, an end of the area which they all once inhabited. They wrote these four songs, played two shows, and then hung it up. Why their songs deserve to be heard in absence of a band to play them should not be questioned; these are very real, very potent statements of human beings acknowledging their limitations as people, and exploring exactly what that means. The songs are long, their sentiments longing; their expectations spelled out within -- hopes and loss, and their dual aftermaths. They crash down on you slowly with their full emotional weight, in feelings too complex to sum up in a word.
Retired was Dennis Bowen, Stephanie Fogel, Megan Lloyd, and Zach Inscho. As musicians of Baltimore, they occupy space in that town's recent musical history, as members of groups like Roomrunner, Wildhoney, Hive Bent, Crimson Wave, and Double Dagger.
August 12, 2016