Dustin's Best of 2017, #6: Iron Chic - 'You Can't Stay Here'

There are a few recurring themes in a lot of my favorite albums this year: trying to make sense of life, accepting or defeating inner demons, and moving on to the next challenge or fork ahead. All of these point to finding some closure for the messier things thrown at us in life. Clearly this is important to me, especially with the year I've had and how I've forced myself into positions where I needed to reflect upon myself and decide what my next steps were and which of those steps would make me either a better or happier person, or both.

Iron Chic's You Can't Stay Here is a little different. Sure, they use a lot of the same motifs: death and grief and regret, and so on, but while shouting about your problems and fears over the loud is cathartic, it doesn't necessarily mean things are going to get better.

That said, even if Iron Chic's version of closure is "maybe one day it won't be so bad, let's shout it out and we'll see what happens" it works. I saw them live in the beginning of December, and it's incredibly comforting to be in a small room full of strangers yelling all the same lyrics at once. One review I've read about Iron Chic mentioned that in spite of their songs all sounding the same (something I won't dispute) and being on the glass-half-empty side, the number of gang vocals and sing-along choruses add a sense of community and togetherness. And I really liked that, and it's true. Sure, sometimes things just suck and maybe I won't ever get true closure, but at least I'm not alone. (Okay, that's the true recurring theme of all of my favorite albums: I'm not alone.)

You can listen to You Can't Stay Here below.

Recommended tracks: "A Headache with Pictures," "My Best Friend (Is a Nihilist)," "Golgotha," "Profane Geometry," "Invisible Ink," "To Shreds, You Say?"