Optimistic and joyful

From Mexico with Love celebrates humanity in ways that make listeners wish for more beyond the melancholy guitar riff in the last song of the album that signifies the ending of it all. Starting with the first track of the album, “Hanson Ghost,” a superior sense of honesty is established right off the bat, and all of it opens an avenue for reality to make itself known — but it doesn’t overwhelm. Even past this particular song, one shouldn’t have a hard time discerning the mellowly upbeat vibe that’s actively there throughout the album.

A lot of the songs come off as reflective meditations concerning finding time to chill and ground oneself in this fast-paced world. “I feel good in my skin again” is one lyric that helps to convey that message. Again, with the establishment of reality in its purest sense, these songs make listeners question the inconsistencies around them. Are people prisoners of this reality, or is it something that constantly allows them to live without a worry in the world, free to roam the streets with curiosity?

Last Dinosaurs open up discourse surrounding questions of all shapes and sizes, making their wishes and dreams come to life in the process, too, which in turn welcomes listeners to create a journey out of all the stoic musings and cries for help at what life really is that are on display time and time again with each verse. Exploration is a consistent theme that this group nails down with ease.

Songs like “Put up with the Weather!” easily compel listeners to get up and move their bodies, inviting them to surrender to gentleness. Last Dinosaurs playfully challenge listeners to keep up with the flow of life, and they don’t relent with those harsh lessons that everybody knows, such as the idea that time isn’t free.

Though joyfully upbeat, multiple songs give off the impression that the group has had trouble as they’ve made their way through life. There’s a sense of ruin, and self-sabotage is spoken of midway through the album. If the group’s mission is to open up a conversation between themselves and their listeners, that goal’s accomplished on countless occasions. Everyone’s searching for a reason, and that chase takes people in different directions. Can psychoanalysis even help? Listen to this album to find out.

These bitterer realizations really come to the surface with the album’s last few songs. It’s as if Last Dinosaurs want their audience to understand that life’s a game, in a way, and everyone needs some kind of assistance from time to time. Nevertheless, simply being is what matters most. On “The Hating,” the message seems to point toward not focusing on something outside of one’s world; in other words, one shouldn’t sweat things outside of their control.

But in the end, optimism reigns supreme with the last track, “When I See Pigs Fly.” The Last Dinosaurs aptly sing, “One doesn’t have a happy ending, / but either way you gotta play your part.” Therefore, while being matters, too, trying one’s best is truly another aspect of life that this quartet wants to make clear.

From Mexico with Love successfully gives listeners a glimpse into how most things in this life are going to hurt. Notwithstanding, that shouldn’t mean that one doesn’t have the opportunity to take a deep breath and use their free will in order to make things better.