The Ballroom Thieves – Sundust
It’s a hard time for people just looking to relax and for artists wishing they could just slip into a state of unencumbered inspiration. Ian Hunter once joked that “you’re never alone with a schizophrenic,” but you are certainly not by yourself when owning a smartphone. For that matter, unless you decide to ignore the U.S. recommendations and travel to Cuba, you’re always in the nearby presence of an internet connection.
Is that so bad? What if some piece of news happens and is never shown again, or your Bitcoin stock flies to an all-time high or abysmal low?
The Band recorded their best two albums while secluding themselves in the countryside. Bob Dylan’s great (nearly) lost album was written once he’d joined them. Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page went to a cottage in Snowdonia where they wrote some of their best work. And, The Beatles huddled in the Indian mountains of Rishikesh when they needed yogic inspiration.
There was no smartphone interference for any of those great artists, but such a thing is nearly impossible today. In many ways, The Ballroom Thieves’ “Sundust” is a meditation on tenderness and human nature written from the perspective of folk musicians who have to contend with the world’s noise.
Still, that’s not enough to scare them off. The album’s opener, “Everything Is Everything”, is a poetic declamation to past glories and better times ahead. The vocals blend sweetly as they proclaim their mission to search for purity in a world that’s interested in amalgamating everything.
The album’s biggest strength is finding a mood, settling in, and letting all of the songs here adhere to that autumnal feeling. “Right On Time” is another folk-rock number complete with Mellotron keys about sunsets and big hopes. “Tender” features picked acoustic guitars and dares to ask those listening for a greater understanding of others’ problems.
The search for purity has occupied the minds of many artists. None of them ever fooled themselves that such quests would be easy. Sure, there’s a bit of melancholy to be found on “Sundust” as well. On “Words,” the songwriters contemplate the inevitable passing of time, while the well-titled “Boring Disaster”, with its jumpy violin leads, talks about the compromises involved in establishing meaningful relationships.
The Ballroom Thieves, however, aren’t bitter. Changing your perception of the world can’t come easy, right? And becoming more accepting of people is surely worth all the effort. On the album’s closer, “I Don’t Mind,” the singers confess to being the product of neglect and to, frankly, not having a recipe to change things around.
But, no, no, there’s no bitterness. They’re on a quest, and the song collection that The Ballroom Thieves have assembled for “Sundust” has, at least in part, charted the course. What lies further than here cannot be known. That’s part of the joy, though. And, as Tom Petty put it, “Sundowns are golden, then fade away.”
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