When You Manage To Make Up Your Mind

Sloan “Laying So Low”

“”Laying So Low” is kind of an earnest number, I don’t know if there’s a real joke in it,” Chris Murphy says in an EPK clip on YouTube. “It’s not often that you get any sentiment from me, I replaced sentiment years ago with wordplay.” Murphy seems to be kidding around somewhat in these clips; he’s a got a bleak, self-deprecating wit. Even still, it’s clear that this self-criticism is something he’s grappled with as a songwriter. The thing is, I don’t think this is something that would have ever crossed my mind if he didn’t bring it up himself. In fact, I can think of a lot of Murphy-penned Sloan songs that are poignant and emotional, even if they may include some clever wordplay. I love a lot of songwriters who definitely favor wordplay over expressing anything obviously personal, but no one in Sloan really belongs in that crowd.

“Laying So Low” may be my favorite Sloan ballad. It’s melancholy, beautiful and somehow manages to keep to a very small scale while feeling a bit majestic. I suppose that’s the point here — Murphy is singing about hiding in the background, biding time while he waits for someone to decide if they want him or not. It’s a song of passive passion, of hoping that someone can get it together and decide what they want before you have to move on. It’s a dim hope, though. No matter how lovely and graceful this song gets, it’s hard not to pick up on that defeated feeling.

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