Midnight Concert Hall: Em Beihold - "Egg in the Backseat" LP {Taffy Tuesday #5}
Hello, Internet, and good mornight to you all!
My name is Taffryne, shoppekeeper of Midnight on Memory Lane, and it is my absolute delight to welcome you to first ever edition of Taffy Tuesday within the Midnight Concert Hall!!!
'Tis an honour, 'tis a pleasure indeed.
As the title of this post says, we're going to be talking about Em Beihold's "Egg in the Backseat" LP from 2022!
I humbly present my thoughts for your enjoyment and consideration.
Em Beihold Store Link (NOT SPONSORED): click here!
YouTube Playlist Link: click here!
Vinyl Review
The Record
The vinyl comes in one, opaque colour: Egg Yolk Yellow and is your standard 12" size at 33 1/3 RPM. The labels are pastel green and blue respectively. Mine has no defects or issues. No crackling or skips. Just a fun and bright record!
The Art
The cover art of this album has such a fun colour scheme. I love the egg yolk-yellow pant suite in the tan and avocado-green car interior. The little butterfly clips in Em's hair are adorable too. The vibe of it all is like a springtime girls' trip on the way to a picnic in a slug-bug car. It plays well into the album's overall feel of being one giant vent session.
The Inclusions
The record jacket came with a square poster on the inside which has an alternate cover photo (she's grabbing the seats in front of her instead of holding her cheek) and the songwriting credits on the reverse side with another alternate photo (she's looking out the car's rear window). Personally, I prefer it when my vinyls include a lyrics-insert above all else because I like to read along as the song plays, but I don't mind not having one. Credit-inserts are super cool because it really goes to show you how much can go into making a song outside of the vocals. Mixers, Recording Engineers, Producers, Instrument Players, etc.
The Stupid Paper Sleeve Problem
For the record (badum tss), I despise the stupid, cheap paper sleeves that labels put them in. If you're lucky and get the nicer ones that either have a bit of laminate on the inside or are smooth, then it's not as bad, but the plain-old rough cut ones SUCK. They shed all over the record which means you have to clean it ASAP so it doesn't get scratched or get debris on your slipmat. I've also had some tear on me because they were tissue paper thin. It's absolutely a most minor ick of a problem. I already have my own archiving sleeves and jacket covers that I transfer all of my records into after I open them anyway. It's just a "blegh".
Album Reflection
I really, really enjoy this album. I think technically by playtime (roughly 20-minutes or so) it's an "EP/Extended Play" and not an actual "Album", but for the sake of simpleness I'll be saying "album" and we'll all agree to understand what I mean, okay? Okay!
Like I said, the feeling of this album is just one big venting session both to yourself and to your friends depending on which song. It's a cracking of the egg (hehe) and letting all the emotions run out so they can be acknowledged. There's pop-bops and slow songs amidst genres I wouldn't know how to classify because I'm not qualified. There's a little taste of different things, so to speak.
I highly recommend it for anyone who likes indie-pop or varied sounds with emotional themes and simplistic storytelling.
Without further ado, I present my individual thoughts on the songs below!
"Goo" ~ A-Side Track #1
"And I don't want you to tell me that you're gonna come in spirit; 'Cause honestly that's more of a stab"
"Goo", to me, feels like someone coming to the realization that this person they really like (platonically or romantically or even in a familial sense) just isn't into them like that. It's opening your eyes to acknowledge that their using you as a means of convenience instead of connection. It could be that this person is caught up on their ex or it could be their current partner. The point is that they don't see the value in you and that it's bothering you.
The car rides. The venting. The ever-looming shadow of the other person they actually care about. The regret that you spent so much time one someone who couldn't be bothered to return a fraction of a care back. There's something truly freeing in the singer getting it all out and finally sticking it to them at the end of a song. Don't call them back.
Musically, I love the bridge portions so much. They have this "thrust" to them that flirts with my ears.
"Numb Little Bug" ~ A-Side Track #2
"Do you ever get a little bit tired of life? Like you're not really happy but you don't wanna die?"
"A little bit tired of quick repairs to cope"
I remember this song being inescapable back in 2022 and it's fully justified to have been. The feelings and mindset that make-up this song are just so, for lack of a better term, relatable. For many people, including myself, "Numb Little Bug" is the musical embodiment of apathetic sadness.
It's like a side-effect from when you're overwhelmed or when your headspace just gets so gloomy and grey. You don't want to die, but you're not quite living. You fall out of social habits a little bit, but it feels like you're alone. Your emotions are so fried or you mind is so lost somewhere else that trying to be present is a struggle and a half. It's this build-up of big things, little things, and some ambiguously sized things that haven't quite been enough to tip you over the edge.
Another artist I enjoy, Mollie Elizabeth, had a really great lyric about this in "Run Rabbit" that goes:
"What does not kill you...never repairs"
I think that matches "Numb Little Bug" beautifully. You're not dead, but you're damaged and trying to get over it with masking tape and hot glue when what you really need is more akin to new support beams and waterproofing. Coping isn't a long-term fix; it's only a short-term patch job meant to buy you time.
"Porcelain" ~ A-Side Track #3
"And I hate myself, but I love myself; But I blame myself like no one else"
"Be careful with me; I take things personally"
Porcelain took me off guard in how much I really felt a resonance with the lyrics. Now, all art is up for interpretation and inevitably no listener will ever be able to "understand" a song like the one who wrote it. However, good grief do I understand this song. In my current lifetime, I have always been the "sensitive" one. The "over-dramatic" one. My expressions are big, my personality eccentric, my emotions high, and my feelings fragile. The song feels like the culmination of all the angst that comes with being the "emotional" one.
You seek socialization, but you fear their reaction to you. You flip flop between adoring your expressionism and hating that you can't tone-it-down. It's a cycle of being your best friend and worst critic. It's especially suck when you already punish yourself for being as you are, only for the people around you to also punish you for it. It's not a matter of weakness, it's a different composition of who we are: glass bones under painted porcelain.
I think another feeling the song gives me is the angst of "perfectionism". You put so much effort into curating a specific appearance or reputation or standard which might seem beautiful (like porcelain or glass crafts), only for it to immediately shatter at the slighted imperfection or mistake.
"Egg in the Backseat" ~ B-Side Track #1
"You will everything I won't, now I like the smell of smoke, but"
Right off the bat, I love the piano motif in the instrumentals for this. I'm a sucker for a good scale run. I think that's what I could call it, right?
I think this song is a clever use of the "love is blind" trope to specifically talk about a relationship that makes you completely unguarded and unaware. The lyrics walk you through this revolving door of knowing that this shouldn't happen, but doing it anyway because you got caught up in their moment. The alarm bells in your head just sound like white noise after you've ignored them enough.
I think that everyone deserves to have some "aw, what the hell? Let's do it!" moments in their life (they are awfully fun to replay for my clients). There's a freedom in it for people, I think. That being said, it's something to be done in moderation and with care. The lyrics themselves show the degradation from "oh, silly me!" into "what have I become?". Knowingly doing something bad still brings those bad consequences. The only difference is this time you're stuck questioning yourself for it.
"Too Precious" ~ B-Side Track #2
"Don't need your two cents on my life events"
"And maybe we'd be friends, but it's too hard when I can't blend into your world"
"Sorry I can't be a person you like"
I think "Too Precious" taps into a really interesting perspective wherein it presents the classic "sorry I'm too prudish for your party" problem, but in a non-derogatory way. There's absolutely still some digs thrown or some back-handedness, but it just never seems "hostile" enough. It's more like a reserved acceptance I feel. Like an argument everyone's tired of and wants to move on from.
The singer has been dealing with the party-goer calling them "precious" and trying to get them to do things that would legitimately be uncomfortable or regrettable for them. There's almost a level of pity where from the singer when something as simple as "I'm not going to the party" has become a friendship-preventing issue for the party-goer. Their entire social possibility is being hooked onto an arguably stupid thing and thus their whole potential future is trashed. I don't even think it comes from superiority or judgement. It's a plain and simple "sorry I'm not your type, but can we move on now?"
"12345" ~ B-Side Track #3
"Now I've run out of my senses; I'm a sitting duck, defenseless"
"Reminding myself I'm still alive; Try not to panic every night; One, Two, Three, Four, Five"
This is just "Anxiety Attack: The Song" from "Overstimulated: The Musical." I love the amount of detail she put into the lyrics to communicate what your brain focuses on when you're in the panic and when you're trying to ground. A specifically fuzzy blanket. The feeling of the floor vibrating from the music. The way the numbers repeat as you keep doing it over and over until it finally works. It's such a satisfying use of the "Count your Senses" calming ritual. I appreciate her own callout of calling the song pretentious, too. Pretentious in a good way, I would think.
I enjoy the little hints of also having to remind yourself of the positives and "little victories" in life. You're breathing, so that's huge. You didn't kill the plant, big win. It's a simple, yet solid song about a strong sensation. I think it works well in the album.
"Spiderman" ~ B-Side Track #4
*"You're probably a projection of who I want you to be, and what does it mean about me?"
*"But here I go again; Already over before it begins"
"Spiderman" is an ode to the over-thinkers and second-guessers when it comes to relationships. A beautifully melancholic ode at that. It's a simple and slow waltz through the thought process of someone who's too scared of the "what if"s to take chances on the "could be"s. Hello, I myself am such a person. It's a strange talent, really, to be able to build up such grand ideas in your head only to immediately shoot them into dystopian disaster 3 seconds later.
I've had full, one-sided conversations where I've managed to talk myself into, out of, back into, and finally back out of something. I don't even think those conversation mates ever got to ask any actual questions or comment before I was already six cycles deep. This song speaks to the loss that comes with such a mindset. Your brain convinces you that it's safer to stay in the "definitely not" category than daring to try and step-foot in the "maybe possible" category. The fears of disappointment, rejection, and hurt are terrifyingly strong. "I guess I can't do the whole love-thing" is a great avoidance choice so you don't have to confront them. Dear Readers of the Internet, sometimes it hurts less to hear "no" then to have never heard that "yes".
Thanks for Reading!
I hope you've been able to listen and enjoy the story for yourself! If you haven't, that's okay too! My thoughts are here to keep you updated and entertained in the meantime.
This caps off this post, so off into the nighttime I go to publish the next one shortly!
May we meet again at Midnight!