• Track: Is there Anyone Out There?
• Artist: Toad the Wet Sprocket
• Album: New Constellation
• Year: 2013

Lyrics:

A swarm of senses, a shatter-storm
Tangled threads to weave a world
We build defenses and call them homes
Each alive, alert, alone

Is there anyone, is there anyone out there, hey, hey
Is there anyone, is there anyone out there
‘Cause I don’t know how to reach across the breach
So deep between us
Is there anyone, is there anyone out there
Who feels the way I do?

Is there anyone, is there anyone out there
Who feels the way I do?

Uncertain language, imperfect words
How can we expect to speak the truth?
I need you closer
I need you still
No matter how I seem to disappear from you

Is there anyone, is there anyone out there, hey, hey
Is there anyone, is there anyone out there,
I’m calling I don’t know how to reach across the breach so deep between us
Is there anyone, is there anyone out there
Who feels the way I do?

The world I’ve seems no—one could ever know
The same as every other one of seven billion souls

Is there anyone, is there anyone out there, hey, hey
Is there anyone, is there anyone out there, I’m calling
I don’t know how to reach across the breach so keep between us
Is there anyone, is there anyone out there
Who feels the way I do?

Southern California has produced countless musical acts over the last 60 years, but perhaps one of the most criminally underrated is Toad the Wet Sprocket, a band that blends emotive lyrics with dashes of rock, alternative, and folk to form some of the best nose-to-tail records produced in the 1990s. The band’s odd name is from a Monty Python sketch in which a newscaster refers to a fictional band by the name of Toad the Wet Sprocket.

TTWS charted hits in the 1990s with Walk on the Ocean, All I Want, Good Intentions, and Fall Down. In 1998, the band split to pursue solo projects but reunited in 2006 to do a variety of small-venue shows (including one that the Dances with Bass staff attended at The Vogue in Indianapolis in 2006). In 2013, the band reformed to release New Constellation and proved that the time only improved their sound. The record is solid gold from opening note to close. In 2015, the band released an EP titled Architect of the Ruin, another fantastic record with nary a bad note.

If you’re only familiar with the hits, I urge you to give Toad the Wet Sprocket a listen. You can’t go wrong with any of their records, though if I had to direct you to the best places to start, I would recommend Fear, Dulcinea, and New Constellation.

Video:

Here’s a live performance from Toad the Wet Sprocket:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asQxVtIuqDI

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