You Can Be My Wave

B-Side and demo collections are pretty much the definition of a mixed bag. Leftovers that span multiple eras in an artist's career can really range in not only the sound, but the quality as well, thus making them pretty inconsistent listens as far album experiences go. In the case of Tom DeLonge's (blink-182, Box Car Racer, and Angels & Airwaves) pull from the vault, To the Stars is kind of an interesting exception. To characterize To the Stars as a collection of demos is perhaps a little modest given that - regardless of when these tracks were written - they are fully, modernly produced songs.

Now the sound from track to track does vary, but again, it's interesting because the first solo billed release from the beloved pop-punker reads as a career retrospective of sorts. There are straightforward alt-rock cuts (New World), some sci-fi progressive rock that could have landed on any Angels & Airwaves project (An Endless Summer), some fairly classic sounding hardcore (Circle-Jerk-Pit), and an ultra crass, nursery rhyme-like pop-punk number that blink-182 made their name on (Golden Showers In the Golden State). Stylistically, it is a little all over the place. However, by nature of recording all these songs during the same period of time, and with a consistent personnel team (made up of DeLonge, his co-producer Aaron Rubin, and session drummer Brooks Wackerman), I can hear a thread that binds all these songs together, making To the Stars an uncharacteristically consistent batch of leftovers.

DeLonge is a seasoned writer and performer who I've talked about pretty extensively, so there's nothing really I can comment on here that hasn't been said already. I can only guarantee that DeLonge continues to bring stadium-ready anthemic rock songs with earworm, sing-a-long melodies. There are a few surprising experiments though. The Invisible Parade is perhaps DeLonge's first honest attempt at an acoustic singer-songwriter type of song, and while it isn't my favourite lane of his, I do think he does a rather convincing job. Landscapes is a very cinematic, practically instrumental, electronic symphony that shows a talent for scoring companion pieces to some of the other mediums that his media company To the Stars has been dabbling in. And lastly, Animals is this really odd tune that flips between verses I would describe as having a gothic, eerie mischievousness to them, and spacey choruses with soaring background vocals.

The collection also presents a few interesting lyrical themes. An Endless Summer and Suburban Kings transport us back to our teen years growing up in privileged neighbourhoods. It reminds us of the feeling of having endless possibilities, but also a deep sense of confusion regarding how the world worked; the beginning of the journey to finding ourselves as well as where we belong. If you squint, you could hazard a guess that New World dives into DeLonge's mind-state when deciding to leave blink for the second time. One could interpret the lines as an acknowledgement that his situation in blink was less than ideal, knowing that there are bigger and better things out there, and having to wade through the mess of press and public opinion who couldn't possibly understand his reasons for moving on. Golden Showers In the Golden State is about... actually never mind. Look... I can't defend the song's subject matter but if you're so tight-assed that you can't derive any sort of enjoyment out of this song, then we are just not compatible people.

It's entirely possible that I'm just a Tom DeLonge stan, but I get a lot of enjoyment from this record. I don't see it as being a mixed bag, I see it as being incredibly versatile. Also, I said this in the Angels & Airwaves review, but it bears repeating, the man still sounds great. People can trash his vocals all they want, but on record after all the (normal) processing is done, he still sounds fantastic, energetic, and alive. Especially when doing those attitude-packed hollers on the rager Circle-Jerk-Pit. If you're a fan of any of his work, there is absolutely no reason why you wouldn't enjoy this.