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Music Tennessee

Unheard Knoxville, Tennessee Music

If Only You Knew by An Atlas To Follow

In 2012 An Atlas To Follow released Golden Sun, a six track EP, and toured through 2014. Since then their website has become entirely Chinese and they haven’t posted on Facebook one time. This Knoxville, Tennessee modern indie folk band consisted of Thomas Smith (lead singer), Zac Smith, Amanda Kinney, & Josh Jones. Currently An Atlas To Follow has 6,053 monthly Spotify listeners making them an excellent candidate for our Artist Spotlight.

An Atlas To follow slowly formed into a four piece band over the years of 2009 and 2010. Thomas and Amanda met and discovered each other in a study abroad program in 2009 and started singing together shortly thereafter. Golden Sun was An Atlas To Follow’s only album, although they did release an album under another name in 2010, Suite C.

The first track on the Golden Sun album to catch my ear was Be Kind To Boston. I loved the harmonies and how the song builds up. However, after I dived into the album a new favorite quickly emerged. Enjoy the second track from the Golden Sun album If Only You Knew by An Atlas to Follow. Find lyrics and the meaning below.

Lyrics (Corrected from songlyrics.com)

Let me tell you dear,
I know I said it’s just a story
But the truth is
I write words to form a crutch
to help me get by
It wasn’t my intention to leave
you out in the cold
I wrote this all down and I put it in a song
Cause I found that my words fail me
When I need them most
I’ve got a way with words
But I’m not sure it’s the good kind
Cause I let them get away from me
And I just hope that you’ll find
That your name is hidden somewhere
Deep between most of them

Bah-di-dah-dah…..

I once had a mind to let this run its course
But the wind and the rain had their way with us
Cause something deep inside me said I had to learn the hard way
I’m scared of being alone, but I’m scared to look you in the eyes
And ask you if you’d like to dance with me
Because I’ll make a fool of myself
These words are nothing more than pebbles thrown
In desperation at your window pane
Just hoping that the rhythmic sound
will help you sleep tonight

If only you knew
If only you knew
If only you knew
If only you knew
If only you knew
If only you knew

Bah-di-dah-dah…..

If only you knew
If only you knew
And if only you knew
If only you knew

Bah-di-dah-dah…..

Meaning

I really really like this song. There’s something magical in the bah-di-dahs. It feels like its taking me somewhere. It makes me close my eyes and smile.

I really like to dive into the meaning of a song’s lyrics, but I love it when it artists tells us (most of the time) what the song is actually about. In an interview, An Atlas To Follow expanded on the meaning of the album and what each song meant to the writer.

“Golden Sun” has a lot to do with unrequited love, or rather, unrequited feelings, with the two bright spots on the EP being Call this Home and the title track. Louisiana was born from the frustration of still carrying around the weight of regrets and remorse from a failed relationship. Really it wasn’t a relationship at all; I was just very emotionally involved. The song does it’s best to say without saying that I was tired. Tired of having her in the back of my head every other day. Tired of not being able to move forward due to the delusional hope that something where I was might change for the better. Be Kind to Boston, If Only You Knew and Too Late to Say I Love You all come from the same situation where I had some very strong feelings toward a certain someone but knew that they weren’t shared. If you listen to them in the order listed earlier you can see the thematic arc of the “situation”: from hope to desire to desperation to loss. It all worked out in the end though, she changed her mind… and that album is in the works.”

I love happy endings! I hope y’all did too.

You can find An Atlas To Follow on Facebook, Spotify, or Youtube. You can purchase their album on iTunes or through Amazon. A large portion of this post was taken from an Interview found on sonicbids.com.

Categories
Kansas

You’ve Never Heard Of This Band Before

The Trek By Emersons Fall

I can almost guarantee you have never heard any music by Emersons Fall. They have 2 monthly listeners on Spotify and I know for a fact that I’m one of them. Their internet presence is essentially non-existent and googling their band name turns up nothing.

However, through some of extensive research I can tell you that Emersons Fall was a Wichita, Kansas duet made up of Ben Tyson and James Paul. The only album they released was their self titled album of 5 songs in 2011. Since then James Paul has gone on to form a new band with his brother and wife called En Power & Light. Ben Tyson, as far as I can tell, has moved on from music and now works as an engineer.

I discovered Emersons Fall while DJ-ing for the University radio station at Stephen F. Austin and instantly connected with their song The Trek. If you are like me back then I think you might really connect with this song. If not, I hope you enjoy it anyways. Lyrics and Commentary below.

LYRICS

Drop all your things get in the car
wherever we go we will go long and far
There are no rules here there are no holds bar

I’m leaving town I’m busting out
And I don’t know where I am gonna go
I’m all alone so ride with me
And we can just go together
The road is here
The skies are clear
but still I don’t know where I’m going

What we left behind now has begun to fade
I want to fall of the edge of this confusing game
And meet the unknown embrace it face to face

I’m leaving town I’m busting out
And I don’t know where I am gonna go
I’m all alone so ride with me
And we can just go together
The road is here
The skies are clear
but still I don’t know where I’m going

There’s no need to be waisting away time
Nothings (?????) by
All (??????) moving is you and I

Drop all your things get in the car
wherever we go we will go long and far
There are no rules here there are no holds bar

We’re leaving town we’re busting out
And I don’t know where we are gonna go
We’re not alone so ride with me
And we can just go together
The road is here
The skies are clear
but still I don’t know where I’m going

We’re leaving town we’re busting out
And I don’t know where we are gonna go
We’re not alone so ride with me
And we can just go together

We’re not alone

And we can just go together

COMMENTARY

In some of my spotlights I get to dig into the meaning of the songs, but in my research I found this old YouTube video that tells you exactly about what this song is about in their words. So I won’t waste our time pondering the original meaning. Instead, let’s dive into what I admire about the song.

I really like that the singing is just not quite in sync. It gives the song an aura of longing. Another aspect of the song that I really enjoy is how the lyrics portray a sense of discontentment and a sense of hope at the same time. I really admire how Emersons Fall were able to put those two contrasting ideas in the heart of this song.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Does this song remind you of anyone? Does it take you back to a specific moment in your life?

SOURCES
http://web.archive.org/web/20130514221945/http://emersonsfall.com/
https://www.enpowerandlight.com/
facebook.com
youtube.com