Ball of Wax 53 Songs: James Kelly Pitts – “Answers”

I think, in the songs of James Kelly Pitts and Poor Neighbors, I have discovered a new genre: soothing songs about climate apocalypse. “Answers” is a slow, gentle song that builds gradually, anchored by a quarter-note kick drum; whole-note bass; a winding, delay-heavy guitar line; and James quietly singing down in the low end of his range. The song starts off with a quiet moment in communion with nature – “I feel the grass between my toes / the sound of trees as the wind blows” but it slowly dawns on the careful listener that this is less a pastoral ode to nature than an elegy for the world we’re quickly losing, as he rues “the answers we’ll question in time,” and wonders “did something end, or just begin?” Of course, when our time on this planet ends, something else – hopefully something a bit less of a disaster – will begin. “Answers” takes a subtler approach than James’s brutally blunt “Rich Kids” from Volume 47, but it’s a beautiful contribution to this environmentally-minded collection, and another fine addition to the ever-growing Pitts oeuvre.