Fly Between Falls is being re-released on Brushfire Records, the label of the Animal Liberation Orchestra's fellow UC Santa Barbara alum Jack Johnson. The track order has been altered, and two tracks have been reworked: the sexy, soulful, “Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down”, which finds Johnson providing back-up vocals, and “BBQ”, whose lyrics are as uplifting as its music is upbeat. “Walls of Jericho” is a new song that replaces “Possibly Drown”.
The album opens with “Spectrum”, a playful yet contemplative song. The music begins with just a guitar and bongos, and after one verse and chorus, a mouth harp joins in. Alongside the banjo and accordion, it is almost impossible to hear the mouth harp and not be put into a good mood. The lyrics explore the complex simplicity, or maybe that’s the simple complexity, of changing one’s mind without understanding why. “Well, I can disagree with myself / because sometimes I feel like me / and sometimes I feel like somebody else.” I know I have changed from not caring about something to it immediately becoming very important. “One minute / I’m over it / and the next minute / I feel the opposite.”
Next is the tribute to college life on “Wasting Time (Isla Vista Song)”. The laid-back sound of a lap steel pedal guitar perfectly captures living in a beach town and the lyrics are hysterical, with the references to recklessly getting high and drunk that mark the early 20s. A few of my favorite lines include: “They just got a sack weighing 3 point 5./It was 4:19. Just about that time.”; “I saw crazy Bruce. He was waiting for / someone to buy him some fine malt liquor. / When he gets it in his system, / he’s a real shit-kicker.”; and “Somebody stuck a doob in my hand./Well, I took a hit and passed it on./I woke up on the pavement not before too long.” Of course, some will find the song irresponsible, but those buzz-killers never got invited to the cool parties, so what do they know?
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