All This Time

Today Melissa Lamm released a new EP entitled All This Time which includes two new tracks; “Any Less” and “All This Time” as well as two sensational tracks which I have previously reviewed; “3AM” and “Someone I Forget”. I am now having a remarkably challenging time deciding what my favorite Melissa Lamm song is. Every track on this EP is incredible; Melissa's writing conveys emotions that I have experienced but feel incapable of expressing. Each track takes me to a wholly different place. I can see each scene so vividly in my mind, I feel immersed in the headspace of the song's subject and it is all done so succinctly. I love that about music and I wish I could write in a similar manner. Virginia Wolf thought much on the same lines, she once said “Music goes straight for things. It says all there is to say at once. With writing it seems to me there's so much... scratching on the matchbox.”

Click the image to check out Melissa’s website

I love the album artwork and overall vibe of this EP. Click the image to give the EP a listen.

Recently I attended a wedding and the playlist was a collection of the very worst of the Top 40 from the last decade. As I listened I tried hard to find any sort of meaning but in most cases I came to the conclusion that the words which these artists had stuck together actually didn’t mean anything. They were composed solely for the purpose of doing what Rihanna would call to “push up on it.” If that is your thing then to each their own is all I can really say but that is not why I enjoy music. Melissa’s music gives you the banging beats similar to songs you may hear on a radio station that’s actually good(if those exist haven’t touched the radio in 15 years) and adds lyrics that are truly heartfelt and captivating. I find it easy to discern that Melissa has put blood, sweat and tears into each track she writes.

Any Less

Sometimes repetition isn’t a bad thing, in fact it can be a great thing. As vast and unexplored as the cosmos may be I feel there is nothing more beautiful than when you find someone who reciprocates your love in every way. When you have someone like that hearing them say they love you and saying it to them never gets old since you know that you both mean it wholeheartedly. To me that is the essence of this track: it describes the feelings you have when you have found that type of love. 

“Feel like a record that’s stuck on replay

Honest it's your fault I’m feeling this way”

I am particularly drawn to this line because feeling like a record that’s stuck on replay could be thought of as a bad thing since when it comes to records the only way they will replay is if they are scratched, dirty or otherwise damaged. That is not the meaning that I get from this; regardless of why this particular record is stuck on replay it’s a good thing as you are stuck replaying a song you very much enjoy this is a metaphor for the wonderful life you are living with the one that you love. Its like one of those songs that you can hear over and over yet it never seems to get old. 

“I try to bite my tongue

Each time I fill the space with those three words

To save my breath and make em count

You know it hurts

And it won’t mean less

I hope to you

It don’t mean any less”

From the very first time I listened to this song I was drawn to the imagery in the third verse. As I heard it I knew exactly what was being talked about. To be so in love that you just cannot help yourself, you want to shout it out loudly and often is a truly remarkable thing. There seems to be this inherent need inside you to say “I love you” and if you don’t it will cause you actual pain. If you have felt this then you understand how wonderfully articulate the description from this verse is, it instantly made me recall what that feeling is like. The elegant tale told in this track is poetic, exceptionally charming and all in all really enjoyable to listen to.

All This Time

There is something very clever that Melissa does with her music extremely consistently. Every song is an outstanding bop on the surface. If that is all you get from her tracks that isn’t a bad thing but like with a multi-layered cake while the frosting may be great all the best parts are hidden below that. “All This Time” is undoubtedly a tragic love song but that is just one part of it. A number of lines caused me to sit and really contemplate their meaning: 

“I’d carve our initials in all the fresh pavement

If that’s what it takes

To just hear you say it…

And we can live a life like High School sweethearts

You can get me name tattooed on your arm

Hold my hand and tell me that you love me 

All this time…”

The line “you can get me name tattooed on your arm” had me wondering whether its meaning was literal or figurative. In the end I decided that it is actually both as I came to the conclusion that each is representing the same thing. Whether literal or otherwise it signifies an endless commitment and a grand gesture of your love. Which is what the subject in this song seems to almost desperately want.

There is an element of questioning present in the track that I didn’t realize until I had listened to the track a number of times. It may be signifying a sense of doubt or perhaps a way to give this feeling of suspense. My own experiences cause me to envision this song as a call that’s anxiously awaiting a response that may never come and whether you are waiting an hour or a day it feels like an eternity. You are calling out to someone who you have had a relationship with and you want to get back together with or you have a relationship with them but you want to take things to another level; personally I like to think it's the second one as I find that most relatable. The utterly brilliant lines of the chorus and the second verse give me these ideas:

“That you want me back

You need me too sooo…

So maybe you can call me in a minute

Tell me that I’m everything you’re missing

Pick me up and whisper that you loved me

All this time…

If fools only rush in

You must be a genius

Cuz you act like there might be nothing between us

It hits me the hardest

cuts me the deepest

Oh I just want something that I can believe in”

Definitely my favorite part of the song; the meaning behind it, the way it flows it’s just magnificent. I think many people have been in the situation where you just want to be “all in” in a relationship but things are just not syncing up for whatever reason. Maybe because the other person actually doesn’t notice you or they are playing hard to get and really making you work for it or quite possibly the worst one of all that they just don’t think of you in that way and don’t think there is anything going on. Regardless of the reason, the sting you feel is almost indescribable and difficult to understand unless you have experienced it. 

In the end you are left to wonder what happened so each person gets to decide for themselves how they think the story played out as there is nothing that seems to steer things in either direction. I lean towards the melancholy because I am very much an emo kid. Regardless of your personal take, the upbeat and heartbreaking trip this track takes you on is a most sensational one. 

Click the image to check out the music video for “All This Time”