Today, Drew and Shelby are discussing Saga 9, originally released January 16th, 2013.

Drew: My trumpet teacher used to talk about the “Ascending Spiral Groove Thang,” the notion that you can gain a lot from an idea by returning to it after you have different experiences to relate it to. He was using it as a (valid) justification for retreading the same lessons for his advanced players that he gave to his beginners, but I often think about it in terms of appreciating narratives. Many stories that I enjoyed well enough as a kid became significantly more meaningful once I had my own experiences with loss, heartbreak, or leaving home. Of course, I’m a far cry from having seen it all, and nothing reminds me of that more than parenting stories. Whether they feature uptight professionals (or lazy slobs) whose lives are turned upside down by an adorable street urchin, or a good old-fashioned “we’re having a baby!” story, the moral is always the same: having a kid changes everything. I suspect these stories keep being told because artists keep experiencing it — a kind of “no, seriously: HAVING A KID CHANGES EVERYTHING” — and because the stories themselves can never really do the experience justice, all of which leaves me feeling like I’m probably missing something all parents just get. Fortunately, that ignorance doesn’t prevent me from enjoying said narratives, as Saga 9 so ably demonstrates. Continue reading →