“To never quit, no matter how dark the tunnel is. To always let God have control of my life, and to never be too busy to appreciate the things that really matter.” Tod Lippy’s second LP Yearbook starts with plenty of ambitions, and it only makes sense due to the aptly-titled opening track, “Ambitions.” The lyrics might throw listeners off at first but upon learning that Lippy dug into his old yearbook and pulled the titular ambitions from his classmates’ declarations, the song takes on a great deal of relatability in a universal approach. Everyone has their own goals, and whether they’ve changed from high school or not doesn’t fully matter. The need to maintain ambition is what counts, and Lippy realizes it comes one day at a time. His yearbook statement? “To always play rock ’n’ roll.”
BANDCAMP: https://todlippy.bandcamp.com/album/yearbook
The songs contained within Yearbook generally stick to a softer approach, and such a perspective offers a variety of unique songs that all manage to maintain a sense of individuality, which is particularly remarkable for songs that tend to contain the same general instrument setup and tempo — there are a wide array of piano-fronted pieces, from “Appian Way,” “Body and Blood,” and “Entente” to songs that take the traditional structure established in the mentioned tracks and experiment a little bit more with the approach. “Aisle 4” sees Lippy get self-aware in his lyricism with a song listing a variety of quotes when shopping at Michaels and walking through the aisle with wall decor.
“As you reminded me to pick up more dog food, I was swimming in this sea of platitudes.” A similarly structured song appears in “Names,” which takes that approach and dedicates it to the varietal spellings of names. “Names” is an upbeat and bouncy track and one that will certainly satisfy the etymologist in your life as much as a song on name structure can. “I just want to connect (only connect) in this sliver of time, even if the cement is an ‘E’ or an ‘I’ or a ‘Y.’” The approach given to every track portrays Lippy as someone deeply concerned with fully utilizing his time and ensuring those he encounters are treated to their fullest potential. There’s a deep sensitivity that penetrates the entirety of Yearbook and feels unreachable in any realm outside of this album when you’re this deep in it.
BUY THE LP: https://www.todlippymusic.com/store/yearbook
The album goes from featuring lyrics as the main dish to offering up more of an instrumental approach in its finale, with the final two songs on the album, “Singalong” and “Undertow,” containing about a dozen lines between the two of them. The backseat lyrics still pack a punch and give listeners a sense of closure as Tod Lippy closes the album with the words “This is the undertow, this is the way it goes, this is what we all know.”
A comforting yet grim look at mortality to close out an album that calls all we know into question feels fitting in the best ways, and Lippy offers a warm sense of closure musically even if the lyrics feel a little cold. This tracks throughout Yearbook as a project with its oftentimes contrasting lyrics and music requiring a few listens to digest fully. Thankfully, Yearbook is an album well worth keeping on repeat so the task isn’t a hard one.