September 19th, 2025
For those of you who know me, you likely know that a little English rock(??) outfit is my favorite band. Of course, this band is none other than Cardiacs. I could go into great depths talking about how much I love them and how influential their music has been to my development as an artist (hell, Hong themself is based off this song!), but that would be a pretty boring read so I'll spare you for now.
Anyway, yesterday, their long-awaited album LSD was released. I got to listen a few days early since a friend of mine had preordered a vinyl copy and it arrived earlier than expected. It was a very monumental release, as it had been in the works since 2008 at the latest. The frontman of the band, Tim Smith, had become paralyzed at some point and was unable to record anything and ended up sadly passing away in 2020, so that definitely contributed to the lengthy recording process. I had first discovered Cardiacs in 2016ish, so I'd been awaiting the release for nearly a decade. I honestly thought for quite a while it would never be finished nor released, but Tim's brother, Jim, as well as the remaining members of the band did an excellent job of finishing the album. I think that if Tim were to hear the album, he would be proud. Surely, it's everything that he would have wanted it to be!
Keeping Tim's passing in mind, it was a very cathartic listen, especially considering the last song on the album is a very heartfelt tribute (a eulogy) to the late Tim himself written by his partner. Jesus, I could not stop from crying! I think that, wherever Tim is, he is looking down upon Cardiacs and smiling. I think he is proud.
Anyways, the album's great and I am DEFINITELY going to give it another listen once I've gotten over myself. Even just typing this is making me a bit weepy, silly as it sounds I owe so much to Cardiacs and Tim. Without their music, 'The Laconic Student's Dilemma' would probably not exist.
I said in the beginning of this entry that I would not go into depth about how important this band is to me, but I at least wanted to talk a little bit about the creation of 'The Laconic Student's Dilemma'. I had been recovering from a pretty invasive surgery for a few months, and was in constant pain and couldn't really do much of anything except listen to music and sleep. During this period I had decided to pass the time by listening to music by bands I'd liked when I was younger, one of them being Cardiacs. While re-listening to their album Sing To God, I became obsessed again and felt energized every time I listened. As I recovered, I took up drawing and started coming up with original adventure stories to cope with the fact I was still mostly bedbound. One of those stories ended up becoming 'The Laconic Student's Dilemma', and from then the rest is history. Even the name is a very thinly-veiled reference to the album I thought would never exist. But it does now, and I must stop talking because I most certainly sound insane.
STATS