A prayer before I put in my earbuds: “Our Lady Of the Highway, may you be with me on this journey, which does not leave the confines of this room for fear of taking off my headphones as others my hear the desolation that tears apart my wretched heart. Amen.” Back when I was kid when musicians got all sad and mopey they wore black and started a band, covering nothing but Joy Division and wore makeup like Robert Smith, and we used to walk to school - up hill both ways. Today depression comes in all shapes and genres, and San Francisco’s Our Lady of the Highway heaves it out layered in alt country, mainstream pop, a little faux punk and some emo, all mixed together with oppressive lyrics. The lead singer, Dominic East writes all the songs in his bedroom and that fact is clearly apparent in this 2005 release.

Although East’s vocal stylings have a similar quirkiness to bands such as Modest Mouse, Built To Spill and the Mountain Goats, the lyrics are immensely personal, as most of the songs are about breakups and of course the inevitable broken heart. Musically they sound like a lot of current acts that are mainstream which surprises me they haven’t hit it yet. The band has the capacity to rock out but the high parts are too short: the intro to “End of the World” has a dub/funk/reggae jam which lasts only 23 seconds. Right now this album, Beauty Won’t Save Us This Year, is available for free on eMusic as well as the band’s website when you purchase their latest release Kill You With Numbers. From one free track, I Get The Sense it appears the band is beginning to branch out but they still need to reflect on other things than that girl that broke his heart years ago.

Free album: Beauty Won’t Save Us This Year