Hospice Anthems. What a title. It immediately sets a tone for this album. It's inherently tragic, it lets you know there's loss, an inevitable and impending doom. And this album does have a sense of tragedy, to it, but still there's a sense that the tragedy of death exists because of the beauty of life and all the pain and loss and love and joy that comes with it.
Upon hitting the play button, the first thing you'll hear is a somewhat misleading drum machine and synth part in the Intro. The album isn't like this, only this opening track and the closer, End credits. It's an artistic choice that I don't fully understand but I respect either way, but not representative of the album at large.
Hospice Anthems is, at its core, a lofi folk album. A really good lofi folk album. As Before Sunrise starts, it immediately sounds like a lost recording of some unfairly forgotten 60s singer songwriter. The lyrics are fantastic, but what hits harder is the vocal delivery. The chorus line "my my my oh my, it's the darkest before sunrise" hits thrice as hard thanks to pathos contrasted with the rising notes at the start.
Things get even more interesting with The Bends, a triumphantly melancholy and largely formless song. Synths swell and the tempo drops and it's just majestic, and a real stand out here. Similarly, the one-two punch of Fade to grey and Talked all night (which almost feel like one consistent track) bring back the same orchestra of synths and give the songs a really big sound.
I really love this album. It's so good. I wish I could express harder how much I think you should listen to it.
And that title, you can imagine all of these songs taking place in the hospice bed. Reflecting on a life that's been and is nearly over, thinking about what's going to be left behind. The melodies, the arrangements, the fuzzy sound that feels like a warm hug. Even when the song is singing "Son, I'm afraid in the end that we're all fucked. It's best not to think about it too much".
Maybe we're all in the hospice.