It was not an accident that the last song on Falling Up’s sophomore disc, Dawn Escapes (BEC), was titled “Intro/Into the Gravity.” For those who’ve taken the time to read between the lines as the Albany, Ore., band has stretched and grown since releasing the 2004 debut, Crashings, it will be no surprise that the concept of “gravity” plays an important role in the unfolding of the band’s newest full-length work, Captiva.
Of course, there’s “Goodnight Gravity.” Then in “Murexa” we learn that “streetlights in the distance shed light on gravity.” And there’s the comforting suggestion in “Drago or the Dragons,” that “gravity will retrace every step.” While we’re not sure what all this means, one thing is clear: gravity’s not just a suggestion. … It’s the law.
Singer/songwriter Jessy Ribordy is less coy and precious in conversation than his often mysterious lyrics would lead one to expect. “Yeah, that’s something that’s going on,” he says. “I hinted in the lyrics at the end of the last record that this one was going to deal with gravity, and there’s a story here for our fans to discover. Dawn Escapes had a lot in there about wind and light and water, but at the end, with ‘Intro/Into the Gravity,’ I gave a hint about the starting place for the next record.”
While many of Ribordy’s lyrics suggest another world of experience, he’s willing to cut through the quixotic metaphors and spell things out. As he does in “How They Made Cameras,” which asserts: “No more star crossed tears/He is drawing near/Now salvation sings/Life that Jesus brings.”
But he’s also not uncomfortable with having his songs compared with more ambitious forms of fantasy and science fiction literature. Ribordy is looking for new ways to express time-worn truths. “I was really interested in exploring science-based ideas versus a more faith-based worldview, and how those compare and contrast. On the surface, those concepts often seem to be in tension, but underneath I think they’re more connected. Lots of times, science requires faith—we use faith all the time, when we step on the brakes and have to trust that they’re going to work.”
And with songs on the new disc titled “A Guide to Marine Life,” “Hotel Aquarium,” “Murexa” and “Maps,” Ribordy & Co. have to have faith that their fans will go along with many of the more obscure references and figure out the hidden meanings over time.
Drummer Josh Shroy says that’s exactly what happens: “We have some fans who write in with their thoughts and theories about the story Jessy’s written—what they think the songs mean, what they are getting out of our music. For a lot of our fans you can tell that it’s really fun for them to seek out the meaning behind the songs. After we did Crashings, one fan wrote us this long, three-page letter with a paragraph about every song, and he was right about every one except ‘Ambience.’ He thought it was about a girl.”(Note to self: The song “Ambience” is not about a girl.)
So singular and committed to his vision is Ribordy that there was little room for two songwriters in Falling Up. This led to the departure of guitarist Joe Kisselburgh, who now fronts his own band, The Send. Citing no hard feelings, Ribordy reports that “Joe was writing a bunch of songs on his own and, of course, wanted to do his own stuff and make his own record. It was something he’d always wanted to do. With Joe wanting to do his own music, it just made more sense for him to go his own way, than to try and balance two songwriters. With him leaving, it freed us both up to stretch out in new directions.”
