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Whatever You Do…Listen to “Whatever You Do, Don’t”
Through a February full of blurry-eyed train rides home from my gig mixing sound, I spent my midnight hours listening to “Whatever You Do, Don’t” end to end, hovering somewhere between misery and hope for the future. I kept trying to figure out how to write a review that captured how much I loved this album, and the boatloads of respect I have for Noah Roth, who is a dear, personal friend of mine, all while accurately representing the album and giving the reader a clear sense of the elements.
I wrote to Noah and asked them, “How did you manage to write an album that perfectly captures how February feels?” That’s one of the most important takeaways from this album. The lyrics and instrumentation loop around in a vortex of transitory musing that’s both oblique in metaphor and straightforward in narrative. Through all 11 tracks, one gains incredibly personal insight into Roth’s mind, but one can also position themselves in the songs. I may have exhausted the point that this album encompasses the “in between,” but I can’t stress the fact enough that this album balances angst and maturity, adulthood and adolescence, fear and hope, in a masterful way over a fantastically structured arrangement of stories.
“Whatever You Do, Don’t” opens with a cinematic swell on “‘A Good Start’.” The track itself is gentle, warm, and introspective. Roth’s…
