The bass player is the front man.
The song "Yellow Bike" gave me what I like to call a "soul kick". When I watched Pedro and The Lion's NPR tiny desk concert he sang a song he wrote when he was 21 that held lyrics like "I'm kind thinking I am kinda shy or at least I want to be" He then followed it up with the beauteous bike song. His words "The song I just sang I wrote that weird little tune when I was 21. I am 42 now. This next song (Yellow Bike) is cheeky in a different way".
He handles the bass and sings "One month shy of 6 years old.
In the valley of the sun My first two-wheel bicycle stood by the tree My heart thumping in my chest Though I'd tried, I couldn’t ride one yet"
Now he says he traded in his handlebars "to be in bands in vans going back and forth".
The song had two different levels one where he is in reminiscent mode, the bass is solemn and steady. When he sings about his old bike the musical accompaniment steps up to flourishing effect. It's the truth about growing up. Don't rush it kids it ain't all it cracked up to be. I heard a live performance on KEXP where David Bazan said making music years ago was a more "elegant" process now "it's become more dystopian". Truth.
The video plays out like an 80's home video. The delicately colored sky with the waving palm trees above the low roofed suburbanite houses along with the prerequisite cul de sac. The young kid (David's younger self) rides his yellow bike along the carless streets.
My favorite line is "some folks are loners and you learn from them.... keep your legs pumping just like everything". Words of wisdom. The young kid exemplifies youthful being alone. But it doesn't mean he is lonely. When you are a kid you make your own fun. He sits on a bench and reads magazines and dog ears the pages. You watch the kid in his red hoodie pumping his legs riding to the summer market, to the local store to get some sugared drink, it was the 80s after all. The word gluten didn't exactly exist nor did obesity if you think about it. There is no sign of "screen time" in this video. Perhaps he's an only child but he's got his bike which he keeps by him like a pet dog. .
Nostaglia personified. His younger self rides and his older self pines. You watch his younger self and older self sitting on the same twin bed with the family picture in the background and his piggy bank on his night table right next to a plastic lion.
I completely relate to his last line "I'd trade my kingdom for someone to ride with".
I read this comment on Youtube
"damn, there's something in his voice that just make heart feel sore and tear jerking out of my eye. oof"
Enough said.
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