i'd like to share something i wrote about my favorite song by La Dispute! it's from this article on my substack, in case anyone's curious :)

Nothing can ever prepare me for the journey this song takes me through. La Dispute doesn’t have perfect lyrics 100% of the time, but the lyrics always convey the essence and feeling behind the words flawlessly.

It starts with Dreyer begging for an answer that I simply can’t give. I know exactly what he’s asking, but I can’t help. I feel just as useless as he does. He starts explaining himself, and listing all the things he experiences. “Some days I swear I can feel you splitting the light through the window frame./ The shapes it makes are always warmer, always brighter than the rest of what comes through.” He goes on as the music gradually builds, describing it in such detail it’s almost unbearable. I get the feeling in my throat where I have the urge to yell “yeah! I get it— no more!”

But by then it’s too late. He recalls an almost dreamlike memory as the music gets soft. I feel what can only be described as the music’s presence in the same room as me, directly in my ear. It’s as intimate as a whisper. Things I thought I decided were insignificant come back to make me unsure. Yeah, I do miss that person. No, I don’t speak to them anymore. No— I don’t think I will again. Why do the memories feel so close? Why do “I sing your name out/ right at the same time that I sing my own?”

Once I come to terms with how disheartening that is, Dreyer delivers the final blow:

But if I still hear you singing in every city I meet
After I blur it all out, our every memory, if
You never fade with the days, your shape still haunting me then,
Should I not just sing along? should I not just sing along?

I will sing sweetly hope that the notes change, but
I do not need it to happen. I’m not resigned to it. And
If they never do I’ll sing your name in every line
Just like I did throughout this. Just like I’ve always done…

“I do not need it to happen. I’m not resigned to it.”

The most compelling theme in a concept album, in my opinion.

I have seen many people miss out on the lyric book because they got their album second hand. I think everyone should be able to experience the beauty therefore I have scanned it and made it into a .PDF for everyone.

I hope everyone can enjoy this!

i'm trying to find my daughter she said and i had seen this before a scene i had seen from the other behind the curtain, maybe, but i could hardly remember anymore. she said shes going to kill herself

thank you, she said, you've been an angel i wanted to scream to beg her to go and save her, and suddenly i wasnt begging her anymore i was begging my own mother

did she ever tell a woman, a woman going about her ordinary life throwing away the trash at the end of the week on the cold high street but she isnt a woman, shes a girl, shes me

you need to accept you made it you're in the next chapter

but anna, when will she not be my own mother?

go to your angel, i thought, but said nothing and when i came home i took an ordinary shower trying to wash it away so i could be a clean woman in the next chapter but

that mother, she will never wash it away what if she got there and found an angel? i think of my angels now

how quickly did your mother get there? did she open the door in time? or was she stalling on the high street?

maybe she knew what she was going to find.

I have seen many, but I want to see THE BEST. Who's got the best live rendition they can share?

We buried our son today, our youngest child, and while his death was ugly we must not let it scare us from God, abundant grace has restored him a brand new body and set him free from the torture.

Finally rid of the cancer before the moment he left he briefly wrested from death, suddenly opened his eyes, said “I see everything, I see everything.”

I’m new to vinyl record collecting but I’m a longtime fan of La Dispute and I would love to get Somewhere At The Bottom Of The River on vinyl. I see on a website called Hello Merch that there’s a 10 year anniversary edition (it says eco mix but I don’t know what that means) and I also tried googling it and got some results for what appear to be the original pressing possibly but I don’t know as I’m new to the collecting hobby.

Is there an official place for merch, or something anyone recommends for me to get this album on vinyl? I was thinking of just getting the 10 year anniversary edition, my main thing is that I want it to be in good condition and if I’m not buying the album from a trusted reseller, I’d like to buy as directly from the band as possible.

Rotated to fit better, don’t come for me haha

Super fresh and swollen. 3rd LD tattoo. Woman (in mirror) also pictured.

“I turned the ignition and I started my car Morning after snowstorm I scraped off my windshield with the edge of a credit card”

There’s no way you’ve lived through winters in Michigan and don’t have a snow scraper!

Was driving home one day after work listening to a Midwest Emo playlist and “King Park” somehow made its way into it. And all I gotta say is Wow. It was interesting because for some reason that song is such a banger to me, I read the lyrics and know it is a unfortunate story that it is telling, but for some reason it feels like there is so much energy behind it and it gets me hyped and gives me the chills whenever I play it. With that, it’s unfortunate that the song cuts off. Kind of a mood killer when you’re in the vibe and I’m aware it’s supposed to be a cliffhanger but I wish it had an ending. I was getting really into the story. Is there any info on what happened after the song ends? Or is there possibly an extended version somehow out there? Or am I gonna just be left to wonder? I’ve been listening to some other songs by them but tbh I think they might be in my top 5 by the end if the year in Spotify.

hello!! i recently discovered damaged goods and i absolutely LOVE it but i want to expand my horizons, are there any songs you guys think are similar to that? thank you!

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I was gifted the Here, Hear IV vinyl record as a Christmas Present. I was super duper excited to listen to it. The record itself is gorgeous, colorful and semi-transparent, but the sound that comes through is just awful. The voice maxes out and the instruments warble in and out.

Does anyone else have this problem with this vinyl record? Is there a fix for this issue where I can make it sound better, like some kind of tweak to my hardware? My record player can play other records well enough; Rooms of the House, for example, sounds fine, as does Nevermind by Nirvana. It's not a high-end record player, but it's served me well thus far.

I figure this place is the best place to turn to for help. You people are the people who would have this vinyl. I worship LD and I really hope I can find a way to make this record sound better.

So I'm analyzing this album as a part of my PhD and I'm working through Rhodonite and Grief at the moment and I wanted to get your thoughts. The loved one that they refer to throughout the album, but mostly in this track is being cared for at a convalescent home. My question here is: how old do you think this loved one is based on what you know about them from what's revealed in this track/the album as a whole?

!I initially thought she was really young. Mostly because of how there was the "child we lost" in Rooms of the House. But I recognise I was conflating the two. Then I thought she was a kid because of the rabbit toy for kids. But I can now equally think that maybe she's a parent of the partner with something like dementia OR still a kid who is really sick with something that causes the loss of speech.!<

I used the broken jar from the tattoo poster they created and made a patch for my vest :)

Going to see them live soon, are there any albums that maybe they dont do anymore live or anything like that? Which songs do they usually play?

Im wanting a very specific hoodie with the cover of panorama as it was my introductory album and really spoke to me. My wife left me last year and it really helped me cope so it means a lot to me

The stuff thats handwritten is about himself, while the printed text is the stories. This add such a beautiful level of complexity to the whole album!

I don't have the money for a vinyl collection 🥲

I'm so lucky!!!

I little insight I'm a pretty new fan only the last few years after stumbling upon them by chance but I've fallen in love with their sound I can't find anyone quite like them even touche amore doesnt quite itchy the same way they do.

My girlfriend isnt really into their music but suffers through it for me when I play it.

I'm so happy with it it's such good quality and comfortable too!!

(Excuse my dirty mirror lol)

Hey so I’m just really getting into La Dispute. Can people lead me to the best live version of Hudsonville,MI 1956