‘The Time to Take Time, to Take Time’
Elastic by Chief Springs was recently released on Jeff’s Eclectic Music Lover blog. What stood out for me first-listen was the singer’s striking voice and I asked Jeff who it was. He told me it was the band’s vocalist Josh Coyne, and he agreed his voice is spectacular. Soon after I presented Elastic to my son, and unfortunately, we were in a bit of a hurry to do something else, and he told me: ‘Papa, this is a great song‘, and his instant reaction left an indelible mark on my memory.
I’ve heard Elastic many times since and realised – You just don’t hear this kind of song / sound in today’s mainstream – music anymore. Elastic has got 30 – something views since the time of its release on YT. What is going on? Music – art like this was once considered ‘Gold‘.
Over to Jeff at Eclectic Music Lover:
Opening track “Elastic” touches on all the conflicting and sometimes incorrect news we’re fed, leaving us confused, disoriented, and not knowing what’s truth or fiction: “All of the things you ought to know, are no longer showing / Because the posters in the window, they serve as proof of how far they can stretch this elastic truth. All of the stories rearrange you / How far can they stretch this elastic truth? A time to take time to take time.” The instrumentation is impeccable and honest, with gorgeous jangly guitars bathed in shimmer, accompanied by a deep bass groove and real drums that lend rich textures to the track.
There is a lot more you can find out about the band Chief Springs at Jeff’s article:
Chief Springs have really outdone themselves with the creation of this exquisite little EP. Time to Take Time is not only a beautiful feast for the ears, it’s meaningful lyrics give us lots to think about. Great work guys!
I feel fortunate to have read the article and subsequently added this song Elastic to my Music Library Project.
References:
1. Chief Springs – EP Review: “Time to Take Time”
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Wow, thanks for sharing this song and my review Matt! I’m honored, and also glad the song – and Josh Coyne’s beautiful vocals – struck such a strong chord with you.
I stand by my words in the article. When my son tells me about something in another language that he recognises ‘as good’, when ordinarily he would chastise me. Then, I know I’m clued on. As you were. This is a great song. Your analysis of the song’s meaning left an imprint.
Marvellous!
Colombia just beat Germany (favourites) in the world cup. Holy Sh%t!!!!
I like this one Matt…sounds really good and fresh.
Got the Orioles on in the background serving it up to the Yankees. Haha
Where did songs like ‘Elastic’ go? I know in the 90’s it would have possibly been a game changer. I’m out of the loop, my friend.
Record Companies don’t like pushing rock bands…the bastards…sorry…but they are…only want pop divas they can dictate what to play. The tide always turns…I just hope it does within a few years.
I think you hit the nail on the head. It was always going to go that way when music / record shops were gutted, replaced and digitised by the big corporates online.
I hope you are right, and the tide will turn, but I seriously doubt it. In the 90’s, people had an eclectic appreciation of music and a lot of it was independent and alternative. You actually held a physical copy of the music in your hand.
Music aficionados pushed out the good music. It was germinated and sown and if it was any good; eventually grew and blossomed. Now music is artificially manufactured (just like blockbuster movies are) – analogous to an exotic plant invasion of a target audience to garner more dividends for the elite. They don’t care about music as an art form.
Well…vinyl last year outsold CDs which is not only suprising but shocking. Bailey and his friends like vinyl and have a musical taste really close to my own.
One of his friends heard Janis Joplin…and he told me…and what do we have? One Direction?
The staying power of music between the 60s and the 90s over shadows today…and many young people like it…o I can see it coming back.
Can you still buy CD’s? Haha. I knew about the comeback of Vinyls. I haven’t bought either in eons.
You have to put it all into perspective. People into music or musicians like your good-self and your music aficionado son Bailey will always be nostalgic for the ‘great’ music artists of the past. It’s steeped into your microcosmic world. Remember the fantastic song by The Beths: ‘Expert in a Dying Field’? I hate to say it, but our generations are this. Generations X (us) and Generation Y (millennials) – your son I take it is here and probably so the Beths. But they are few and far between unless they have penetrative musical influences from Gen X and Baby Boomers.
Now, Gen Z (post 97) and Gen Alpha (post 2012) go to school and get their music from other students on their cels of YT music hits. Where did we get our music from Max? We loaned albums and cassettes out to one another. It was the audio sound we heard. Not the video marketing. It was all about the music and sound.
To get a name in music today, you have to be a sensationalised and ‘ideological’ market specimen which the big corps can package and mass produce. Call me a Romantic Pessimist (which clearly I am), I don’t hold out much hope.
Bailey and I have bought vinyl. I still have a few left over from the good old days…but Bailey got The White Album not long ago…the remastered version. He goes to antique stores and picks up other albums.
I know most of his friends parents and they are basically me lol…no…I take that back…they like more 80s than I do.
Well..someone is buying Stones, Beatles, Elvis, etc…and it isn’t just our age. Take the movie “The Guardians of the Galaxy”…that movie was responsible for seventies songs shooting back on the charts…that soundtrack went to number 1…it was in 2014 and bailey was 14…that generation is who went to the movie and bought the soundtrack.
Not counting what Jeff has…but top 40 now…is disposable…the guy I work with…is 25 and he tells me that…he said he loves technology but the only thing that isn’t good no is the music.
I got my music from reading believe it or not…my sister has the worse taste ever…I’m glad I followed my own muse lol.
We are talking past each other and going on tangents and that’s fine. I like it.
My concern is – What young bright new artist or group is going to sell their music material on Vinyl or CD and make a bucket load? Zero, Zilch and nada.
Max, you are referring to the big names that almost everyone knows about and will always sell on Vinyl and CD blah de blah. They were colossal.
Guardians of the Galaxy? – give me a f&%king break. That’s where the youngens get their music from? That’s a terrifying thought. Where is ‘Elastic’ on their soundtrack lol?
Is there any John Hammond out there willing to take a risk on a young Bob? And how do you market that in this epoch without a folk movement or peace activism underlying it? People listened to Bob, they hardly watched him. How marketable would a prodigious up and coming talent like him make it today? When was the last time the youth of today listened and inculcated the lyrics of a song? The quality of the musicianship and artistic merit is an afterthought now.
Dam it Matt…I thought I hit sent on this…I’m sorry…Oh ok…I’m talking about classic music…and yes that does tie into Elastic…IF the younger generation likes classic rock music then IF exposed to Elastic and it’s kind…they would like it. But they are not exposed….because of the record companies refusal to even try.
I must have misread what you meant Matt…I thought you meant that yea Bailey since he grew up around me likes it because I did…so that is what I was aguring about because many his age does.
We are back to the same thing…the record companies won’t do it…. they pump this top 40 crap out. But…the way to get new bands out? It’s not like the old days anymore as you know…you almost have to have your song in a commerical or movies now…
I think you will be hearing more because classic rocks songs are stupid crazy expensive…if some giant movie would put some in then that would help…radio…who listens to the radio anymore? It’s either streaming, commercials, or movies.
I see your connection between if youth like classic rock then they may turn onto music like ‘Elastic’. That’s a big ‘IF’ as you alluded to.
As I was saying in the 90’s it was a germination of music which led to whether music was recognised. Now it’s top-down purposeful form of manipulation of the music species otherwise known as ‘hybridisation’.
Independent and alternative music are just about dead if you aren’t clued in. That music… once upon a time was commercial. It isn’t any longer.
It’s like starbucks coffee cups…disposable. Our tvs, and appliances used to be passed down…now everything is yes…disposable.
I think movies are the way to expose newer music and…there is a reason that could happen…because of the high rates of classic songs.
In the eighties…you know how much I personally didn’t like it…except artists like Springsteen, Mellencamp, Petty, and others. I listened to alternative then with REM, Replacements etc…and you are right…alternative was much larger in the 80s and 90s than now. If it wasn’t for Jeff…I wouldn’t know these new bands.
I just finished scheduling an article on Zevon’s ‘Mutineer’. That was tough – going but rewarding – ‘Enjoy Every Sandwich’.
I’m not enlightened about the big groups and bands that saved the 80’s. This era now is completely distinct. I agree and I’m also grateful for Jeff’s input.