Thursday – A City By The Light Divided

Thursday Everyday

Geoff Rickly is relatively calm considering that several demos of his band’s hard work were stolen and leaked over the Internet. Thursday is known for their support of the spread of music via file-sharing, but warn that the album versions “have all changed substantially.” One can’t blame Thursday fans for anticipating A City By The Light Divided, the continued diary of personal songs documenting life from high school in New Jersey to the present.Upon pressing play, “The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)” immediately alludes back to “Understanding in a Car Crash” from their second album, Full Collapse. This musical memorial jostles into a passionate forty-six minute world of angst and sorrow offset by driving instrumentals and Rickly’s unique, slightly panicked vocals. “Counting 5-4-3-2-1″ and “Running From the Rain” enfold the story of another young lost friend, this time a result of a train accident and the reaction of those who survived. A City By The Light Divided continues to progress through the stages of grief from bittersweet “Sugar in the Sacrament” questioning God in times of hardship, to the almost operatic acceptance of death in “We Will Overcome.” Rickly even delves into their own near death experience in “At This Velocity,” revealing a stream of what may be his last thoughts as Thursday’s plane on tour to Australia nearly crashed.

A raw, dark, and empowering album, A City By The Light Divided perfectly captures emotions through poetic lyrics and intricate songwriting. The final track, “Autumn Leaves Revisited” ties up the album by saying, “the leaves will fall and so will you/ when you do, bury me under them too/
seconds pass; we’ll make it through/ eventually we all go home.”