It's Hard to Find a Friend

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Album Information

Total Tracks: 12   Total Length: 42:49

eMusic Review 0

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Jonah Bayer

eMusic Contributor

02.01.11
Pedro The Lion It’s Hard To Find a Friend
Label: Jade Tree

David Bazan is one of emo’s most underrated artists, and this release under his previous moniker Pedro the Lion offers 12 excellent examples of why. The lo-fi instrumentation and arrangements may not be as dizzying as some of his peers, but keep in mind that the music only serves as a background for Bazan’s lyrics, which are the real gift. “I need a miracle, someone to help me,” he half-talks, drawing out every syllable over the lonely march of a metronome on “The Longer I Lay Here.” Depending on your perspective, that sentiment is teeming with either hope or desperation.

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Pedro the Lion’s Dave Bazan is an observant Christian who wears his sins on his sleeve. Still, there’s a sweetness about his outlook and journey on It’s Hard to Find a Friend. The songs offer nice detail: he finds his girlfriend has ticket stubs to a movie she saw with someone, but not him; and he wishes he could become the disciplined person a friend is “for a few habit-forming years.” There’s some real grace and poetry in the lyrics, and the music is spare, simple, and hypnotic. Bazan seems to be a musical hybrid of Moe Tucker and Daniel Johnston, with a dash of Brian Wilson (“The Longer I Lay Here”) and Popol Vuh (“The Bells”). A brotherly gem. – David Dwyer

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