Girl at the Rock Shows

Today was one of those days where I wish I had the power to stop time. It was a stressful day where things never stopped being thrown at me, and I never quite got caught up on anything. Now it’s early evening, and I barely have enough time to make a quick dinner and get to my show for the night, but I’m still trying to figure out this whole ‘Stopping Time’ thing so instead of stressing out about time (or lack thereof), let’s take a couple of minutes to listen to The Malignant Narcissists’ new EP ‘Stopping Time’ to see if they have the answer.

“If I Could Just Stop Time” is the first track on this quick four-song EP, and the band wastes no time blasting you with their slightly 90s-feeling rock sound. Although this song has an undeniable sense of energy, there’s also a slight tenderness behind some of the lyrics and how they are presented. It ends up that this song was actually written as a love letter to a dog. Keeping that in mind as I listened to this song, I couldn’t help but think back to my two cats that I had to put down last year and pet my three current ones (yes, I am a crazy cat lady, and I’m not ashamed of that) as I started to sing the lyrics to them on my fourth listen of this song. I love how this band can take such a sensitive song and make it into such a ripper. Some of the words will surely make you sad once you know the backstory of this track and if you, like this band and me, are an animal lover, but, at the same time, it will fill you with a sense of warmth and remembrance in the perfect way.

I had heard the next song, “An Aberration in Time,” before. I actually even reviewed it a few months ago, but it was sure nice to revisit this genius track. As mentioned in that review, this song is dark and feels even darker when up against the slightly joyous vibe of “If I Could Just Stop Time,” but I like that. It shows the versatility of this band and brings more of their signature blend of power and tenderness but in a different light. This song comes at you in waves. Waves of slower, more deliberate lines of lyrics followed up thunderous moments of garage-rock, grunge-inspired instrumentation alongside a booming chorus. Like I said, this song is genius and absolutely a stunner to listen to.

“The Others” seems to be this band’s political protest song, which I love. It talks about how crazy this world has gotten and how “People [are] just living in their bubbles, just ignoring all the calls, to get along.” There are a lot of tremendous and poignant lyrics in this song, but that’s the one that really speaks to my soul. Beyond a political song, I feel like this is a wake-up call. “The Others” reminds us that we all need to be just a bit nicer to everyone around us. We need to open up difficult conversations and open up our hearts to those in need. All of these messages are served up in The Malignant Narcissists’ signature garage-rock sound, making it a perfect addition to this all-too-quick EP.

I warned you that this was a quick listen, and before I knew it, the album had moved on to the last track- an acoustic version of “If I Could Just Stop Time.” I love how this version lets you see this band’s barebones and hear how they still have an insane amount of power, even if you take away the boisterous guitars, drums, and bass. In this track, you are left with the pure sweetness that seeped through here and there on the first track of the album. Although I would have loved to hear another song from this band rather than an acoustic playthrough of a previous track, I understood the reasoning for this and loved how, even though it is a “re-done” track, you get to see a whole other side of this band.

I’m not an idiot. Time didn’t stop when I listened to this EP, but by the time I was done with it, I felt a bit calmer, a bit more collected– I felt good for the first time today.

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