Echoes (The Jerry Cans album) – Queen City Sounds and Art

The Jerry Cans, photo courtesy the artists

Mental health issues used to be talked about in patronizing tones with a hint of moral failings and thus deserved pain and suffering and deprivation in some fashion but these days the public dialogue has shifted slightly with widespread information on how widespread it is and how the nature of these ailments has been misrepresented, misreported and pushed off into the realm of things other people have to deal with. The frustration at the gap between people suffering from these issues and the way they are administered is infused in The Jerry Cans’ single “Swell (My Brother).” It’s an uplifting, electrifyingly melodic song with rousing choruses and horns, percussion, keyboards and guitar coming together in a panoramic orchestral arrangement like The Polyphonic Spree with a bit more punk in the equation. The group, from Iqualuit, Nunavit, Canada, offers no pat answers or patronizing sentiments about how it’s all going to be alright. Rather, the choruses brim with compassion and questions demanding some kind of answer from society at large, a society that has chosen, and it is a choice to prioritize some concerns and not others, to try to not approach addressing root causes and offering real aid to those suffering. In the chorus the lines, “How long must we keep on dying? How long can we keep on dying?” leaves the question open regarding when will enough be enough for the issue to reach the policy making level or the action level in a national dialogue beyond empty sympathy. And yet the song doesn’t strike dire tones, just a passionate one calling for human action now. At a time when mental health issues are exploited for marketing purposes and employed by corporate propaganda to signal their supposed moral character, the song strikes an especially sincere and vital note. Listen to “Swell (My Brother)” on Spotify, connect with The Jerry Cans at the links below and check out the rest of the band’s new album Echoes which was released on May 15, 2020.