Daniel Gum - "Thirteen" Album Review by Coco Lashar

DANIEL GUM - “THIRTEEN”

“Daniel Gum’s Thirteen feels like the soundtrack to figuring out life in your twenties– a portrait of transition, reflection, and gratefulness (with a hint of cynicism). The album shifts back and forth from optimism to mellow reflection, finding a sweet spot for introspection somewhere between despondence and joy. Thirteen is made up of different characters that acting as personifications of different life lessons, regrets, and changes that come with adolescence. Gum takes people and places from the past, filters them through the present, and in the end, paints a beautiful picture of the human experience.

The opening track, “Mary”, an upbeat collection of memories, offers a familiar perspective of watching adults try to figure out life. It introduces the album as upbeat yet deeply personal, a door into the stories and thoughts that fill the record. “Blue Light” is an honest reflection of infatuation and heartbreak, the desire to be known and understood in the midst of internal chaos. “Andrew”, with its melodic piano and harmonic background vocals, it becomes clear that these characters Gum writes about, have become a part of himself, integral to the person he’s become.

Thirteen is in the likes of Andy Shauf or Sufjan Stevens, pairing poignant lyrics of day to day life with plucky guitar melodies and bright piano riffs. Like in “35 Years,” where Gum documents the realization of becoming just like your parent, with a newfound appreciation for family and the relationships within.

In “Ruin Your Life”, a single from the album, we follow the internal monologue of Gum debating on whether or not to ask out a girl. It feels so familiar, yet voyeuristic, to be inside someone’s thoughts, cheering him on while remaining all too familiar with the self-loathing. Relentlessly upbeat and catchy, it reshapes the anxiety of insecurity into a sort of anthem for the hopeless romantic in us all. “Parker Posey” feels like being in a dream, trying to piece together seemingly meaningless sequences into a story that makes sense, with repetitive piano and a sweeping crescendo.

Pedal steel is introduced on “In The Worst Ways”, creating a melodic space that perfectly accompanies the regret and mistakes recalled in the song, “Haunted by how I feel / How it spins around like a wheel.” The track is a vibrant recollection of the glossed over moments in life, late drunken nights that only gain meaning with time. In the next track, “Sarah”, Gum takes a more retrospective look at a relationship; the jealousy, resentment, and other generally bad feelings that often accompany human connection.

“Tennessee Waltz” goes on the (literal) journey of the relationships with places, creating a sense of a wavering home with a soft but demanding composition that feels big, yet intimate. A favorite lyric from “No Name (Alice)”, “Nothing feels quite like it did though / when we were in it.” Those lines feel like a perfect encapsulation of the album as a whole, discovering the moments that seem meaningless when you’re in them, but as time progresses, you realize they made you who you are.

The album is, in its entirety, a compilation of loving tributes to the people and experiences who (intentionally or not) make us who we are. While the record is full of deeply personal and honest reflections of Gum’s young adult life, I think everyone who listens can create their own internal universe based around the Andrews, Marys, and Sarahs of their own life. Thirteen takes us through the time of realization all twenty-somethings experience. Through the highs and lows, the bright melodies to somber lyricism, what’s uncovered is the understanding that most of the time, you only realize the good times were good when you leave them.”

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Review by :: Coco Lashar

Staff Writer

Manor Records gives 100% of article author rights to Coco Lashar.