REVIEW: Oldsoul's "Education on Earth" via Counter Intuitive

Olsoul is a band from Lowell, MA, in proximity to my hometown's local scene and they’re on one of my favorite record labels right now. Their lyrics are also truly poetic and their vocalist, Jessica Hall, knows it. The presentation Jessica gives to each melody is somber, backed by an emo and dream rock instrumental that borders on symphony. “High on Yourself” is an example of a band really playing to their own strengths as it has such a range of emotion that goes through so many phases in just four minutes. That’s another thing I’ve really come to admire about Oldsoul; playing to your strengths also means knowing when to shift gears. Knowing when to get more aggressive, start incorporating varied instruments, all of this can be found just on track one. There are also more subtle sprinklings of this on songs like “Leave Them Standing,” where we get into some synths or “Designated Driver,” that approaches the guitar structure in a different way than the rest of the record. Knowing how to display emotion is just as important as knowing how to wield it; the short instrumental break on “Leave Them Standing” is a statement. Not the first band to turn their choral melody into a guitar solo, but it still makes the feeling ring louder in your mind.

Education on Earth made me rethink the way I write reviews. I was doing my outline on the bus ride to work when it hit me that I was coming up with a numbered score for the sake of it. Truthfully, I don’t think about music that way. I started giving scores on a ten-point scale as a clickbait tactic and it worked. That’s not what I want to accomplish though. Recently I skipped out on reviewing both The Maine and Movements, two albums I actually did like but just felt like I had little to say. I realized I almost gave this the same score as this record, but I had so much praise to sing here, so it stands to reason that this should be higher.


I focused more on the sound this week, but I want to keep digging into Oldsoul’s record for their lyrics. The little bit I caught really stuck with me and I want to study that inside and out. The final lyric here is maybe it’s time to start backed by nothing. No instrumental, no dreamy riff, just the words. Reading the words to that song I don’t quite understand, and while promoting bands is the point of the blog, knowing the people behind them in a way they intended is my personal goal.

I loved this record!

Favorite Songs
  1. Anyways
  2. Leave Them Standing
  3. Crystal
  4. Lavender Cane
  5. Nerves
  6. High on Yourself
  7. No Reassurance
  8. Designated Driver
  9. Shots of Gold
  10. Education on Earth

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