Studying music day in and day out can leave you with some trite lyrical concepts that can make you numb to certain words, phrases or ideas. Por ejemplo, finding storybook love is a valiant concept, but after thousands and thousands of separate musical artists covering this topic, it’s interesting to see a divergent perspective from The Dear Hunter. “Whisper” may seem pessimistic and depressing on the surface, but I find it a refreshingly uncommon inquisition. With powerful lines like “I think that we’ve all made our gravest mistakes on the greatest intentions that we’re too stubborn to let go,” The Dear Hunter takes a dangerously extreme strike back universal norms, and despite that I disagree with the concept at its base, I applaud them for steering their artistic direction away from the beaten path.

Misdirection can in fact lead to brilliance in the long run. The Providence band started as a side project of singer, songwriter and guitarist Casey Crescenzo who had no place for the eventual Dear Hunter songs that he wrote in his past band The Receiving End of Sirens. After being asked to leave the latter, the writing process previously labeled as a side project transformed itself into a passionately cathartic meeting of pen and paper, finger and guitar, and stick and drum. 6 studio albums, 2 live albums, and 4 EPs later, its safe to say Crescenzo made the right decision. As an ironically washed up Chris Brown would say about 5 years ago “Look at me now!”