The songs of Jonathan Fickes have always been defined by an indelible sense of place. That here-and-now instinct sharpens on the self-released Rolled Over Like A Wave, the first album from his Seattle-based A View Of The Earth From The Moon project since 2017’s Closer To A Ghost. Co-produced by Andy Park (Death Cab For Cutie, Ciara), the new music draws equally from ’60s pop classicism and contemporary indie muscle. While the pandemic death of Fickes’ father looms large on Rolled Over Like A Wave, the album doesn’t wallow in sadness so much as absorb it. In the end, the message is surprisingly hopeful.
Fickes escorts listeners through the grieving process.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “Emerson And Henry David Thoreau”
“A foie gras of optimism … Never change. The lyrics in the chorus border on cringy, but that’s almost the point.”
2) “Never Coming Out Of My Room”
“Definitely some Easter eggs in this one—just me putting sad lyrics over a happy melody. The world sucks, so I’m never coming out of my room.”
3) “Blood To Wine”
“The Velvet Underground crossed with Carly Rae Jepsen … and saxophone. Are we all just waiting around to see what finally crosses the line? We’re all pretending things aren’t completely fucked.”
4) “Eighty Miles An Hour”
“Tableaus of childhood. Riding on my bike with a towel cape safety-pinned around my neck, saving the world from the Joker—with a French horn ensemble.”
5) “Halloween In ’93”
“Shimmery ’80s arpeggios and a song about me wearing a costume for Halloween in third grade that I now realize was not very racially sensitive. Plus, loving someone so much you wish you’d known them your whole life.”
6) “Little Brown House”
“My dad died in April 2021, and this is the origin story of him and my mom. They met in college, and my dad picked her up every morning on their way to their student teaching assignments. He had a red Dodge Coronet. They fell in love on those trips, laughing and imagining an entire life in front of them.”
7) “Tip Of The Spear”
“Wrestling with age. The fervor of youth, the disillusionment that time can bring and the resolution to keep going.”
8) “Cash In/Flame Out”
“Just a fun song with guitars and guitar solos.”
9) “Everything For Free”
“An anti-capitalist anthem … big, fuzzy ass. Also a vegan anthem.”
10) “Looking Straight Ahead”
“Perhaps my most genuinely optimistic song to date. Jam packed with Easter eggs, epic melodies, uplifting lyrics and big boom-boom drums and bass.”
11) “Summertime”
“A hypnotic list of similes about moving on to a new life.”
