Perhaps, just perhaps, you’re one of those people who think that they’ve moved beyond the point in their life where they’re deeply affected by one of those pure as snow pop songs with the undeniable chorus and the reverberating stickiness a la something from an airport or shopping mall Cinnabon. Perhaps you’ve blockaded the all of the available capacity for one or a bundle of those glistening nuggets of song that the second it’s up and out in the air it becomes internalized and cloisters itself between the ears like a fly trapped in a car. You have not, I assure you. You can outgrow many things, but outgrowing or threatening to deny oneself of the simple sweetness of a pop-rock song – particularly one about unrequited love, albeit done in a way that hints that there will be another day despite the discouraging results of this one courtship – is reprehensible. You cannot cut yourself off from water. Remember that. It’s a similar circumstance with North Carolina band The Never. It makes songs that in tiny, alternative ways are packed with sustenance. There isn’t that trite edginess or a lick of David Byrne in anything they do – an incredible feat these days – just an understanding of the time-honored tradition of coming up with some pretty arrangement with drums, guitars, bass and vocals that equivocally gives that foolhardy female something to think about for the mess she’s caused, for the wreck she’s helped to make this boy. The same holds for the girl who’s turned the boy’s world on its ear and put some wind into his bangs, given him a golden glow. Many play, but few win when it comes to walking the fine line between cleverness and sentimentality, but The Never does win. The give me reason to believe – thankfully – that songs like “She’s Not There,” the entire Zombies catalog for that matter, “Happy Together” and The Turtles maybe even the Monkees or The Beatles could still have a chance to put a little electricity into a room. There might still be a forum for the true blue pop song that knows how it’s supposed to go, what it does best and when it’s the perfect time to get a little more rowdy – just a tad more rowdy though. In the short time they were here, they invited us to their end of the summer Slip ‘n Slide party and showed us photographs of them piping deep-fat fryer byproduct from vats behind restaurants to keep their van running. They’re re-embracing the heart of the pop song, spreading goodwill and saving the environment one hook at a time. – Sean Moeller

First song
Summer Girl (The Never) [3.47MB] [1887 downloads]


– original version appears on Antarctica

One of the more literal songs from “Antarctica,” that actually talks about the characters from the book. In a more general sense, it has to do with people who weave in and out of your life.

Second song
When You're Gone (The Never) [3.73MB] [2122 downloads]


– unreleased

The pain of relationships. I know people (myself included) who’ve found themselves in a relationship that was more about the comfort of actually having someone to be with than to deal with the fear of being alone.

Third song
Antarctica (The Never) [3.16MB] [1846 downloads]


– original version appears on Antarctica

“Antarctica” is about being happy despite your surroundings. The song’s lyrics have been changed since Ari wrote it. It began as being about feeling guilty after making a decision that hurts someone you love.

Fourth song
When Snow Starts to Fall (The Never) [4.40MB] [1913 downloads]


– original version appears on Antarctica

The idea was to come from a kid’s point of view on the environment. Not really subtle, but I was coming from a child’s point of view. “Snow Starts To Fall” has a lot to do with appreciating what you’ve got whether it’s your environment, your friends, or whatever you care about that’s closest to you.

Band note No. 1:

A lot of these songs started with themes that have changed a good deal after beginning Antarctica, the record, but they’ve all kept their original idea. It’s a strange process of writing songs, then writing a story and coming back to the songs and making them as personal as you can after they’d been altered to fit the idea of the book.

Band addendum No. 2 (from Noah Smith):

There is one thing I wanted to mention after listening to the tracks from the session. They are interesting because they aren’t exactly representative of our normal live show. We did them just a couple of days after the banjo player, cellist and keyboard player finished their part of the tour. In fact, some of those songs would normally be sung by the keyboardist, Ari. It was crazy at the last minute switching the parts around.