It’s only fitting we kick off the month of August with a band that bears the month’s namesake. Just putting that out there.
Augustana’s 2006 All The Stars and Boulevards was released during my junior year of high school, a period of time in which college selection really ramps up and prospective college students like myself begin seriously considering where they would take their next life step. Going to school in Boston was a real possibility for me, which made the song “Boston” feel incredibly poetic as the narrator details moving out of California. As a 17-year old it’s pretty easy to find a sense of deeper meaning in things like that, and at that point in my life I did. I ended up staying in California to go to college and had one of the best college experiences I could have ever imagined (go Gauchos!) but did apply to both Boston College and Boston University that year– I honestly don’t remember if I even got in or not.
And that’s sort of the feeling I had in re-listening to All The Stars and Boulevards nearly twenty years later– it felt familiar, but in a way that was more like a house plant feels familiar compared to something visceral like the scent of your ex-girlfriend’s old perfume or seeing a photo of your high school friends at a house party. There was a point in my life where that the decision of where to go to college felt like the biggest decision of my life (and it was at the time), but that feeling has eventually dissipated with the passage of time.
In other words, our existence is transient. There are things every day that feel like massive moments, but we end up making decisions, adapt to that new reality, and do our best to make the best of the new opportunities that are presented to us. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Standout Songs: “Boston”, “Stars and Boulevards”, “Lonely People”
