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Heartbreak Albums

Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 17-Nov-06 @ 04:59 PM

So it's over: He kicked in your TV and said you ruined his life; she keyed your car and ran out of your life forever. Now you're left to pick up the pieces of your broken heart-and right before Valentine's Day, no less! While there are endless albums you could choose from when compiling the soundtrack to this experience, these 10 articulate those swinging emotions of anger, depression and "Maybe they'll come back" a little more clearly than most.

Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio (ASIAN MAN,2000) Let’s not kid ourselves: This entire list could’ve been compiled from Alkaline Trio’s albums, Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano’s respective solo songs and a burn of the group’s unreleased tracks. But if there’s one disc that encapsulates the Trio’s flair for aching, angry songs about heartbreak, it’s this one: technically a rarities collection that reverberates with an overwhelming sense of liquor-soaked loss. Although all you really need is track four, “I Lied My Face Off,” in which bassist Andriano shouts, “You fed me the sun/burned me up inside and watched me choke/on everything we did/on everything we lived/let’s see if I can live again.”

Jets To Brazil Perfecting Loneliness (JADE TREE,2002) As the voice behind the late, great Jawbreaker, Blake Schwarzenbach shielded his bleeding heart with serrated punk riffs and an angry-young-man lyrical vision; but in his succeeding band, the undeniably emo Jets to Brazil, Schwarzenbach took a more Nick Drake-via-Morrissey approach to songwriting: vulnerably laying his emotions on the table as he lamented love’s bitter sting. On the group’s third (and apparently final) release, Schwarzenbach seems even more heartbroken than usual; the title track echoes with pain as he cries, “The thought of you is tearing me in two/I miss you/could you come around sometime?”

Glassjaw Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence (ROADRUNNER,2000) A word of advice to the ladies: Don’t ever do anything to upset Glassjaw frontman Daryl Palumbo, lest it cause him to write you fond dedications like “I hope you enjoy dying alone” as he refers to you as a “filthy whore.” Glassjaw’s debut, a ridiculously angry set of songs all essentially about how awful Palumbo thinks women are, just may be your ticket to moving on. After all, it’s far better for someone like Palumbo to longingly sing lines like “Make the dead sleep nights with a razor waiting” than, you know, to actually have a razor waiting.

Reggie And The Full Effect Songs Not To Get Married To (VAGRANT,2005) Written while Reggie And The Full Effect singer/keyboardist/mastermind James Dewees was spending his days in divorce court, Songs Not To Get Married To may be the quintessential breakup album-and it also marks the first time a Reggie album has ever sounded anything close to serious. Although Dewees is clearly still joking on some of the tracks, his frustration from going through a rough divorce seeps through the others, proving that even jesting frontmen who wear thongs onstage have feelings.

The Weakerthans Left And Leaving (G7 WELCOMING COMMITTEE/SUB CITY,2000) Suddenly popularized for having the song “Aside” play over the closing credits of Wedding Crashers, the Weakerthans’ quietly hooky second album says it all in the title. The 12 tracks on Left And Leaving all try to come to grips with what happens when someone either walks out on you or forces you to walk out on them. The title track is the most poignant and sad, as singer John K. Samson laments the return home, moaning, “The sidewalks are watching me think about you” in ways that make the sentiment seem awfully familiar.

Elliott Smith Figure 8 (DREAMWORKS,2000) What would a list of albums about despair and heartbreak be without the man who could’ve been the poster child for all things desolate? The late, lamented Elliott Smith has an expansive catalogue of achy, stark songs, but Figure 8 most carefully sums up what it means to miss someone you once loved. On tracks like “Everything Reminds Me of Her” and “Somebody That I Used to Know,” Smith tried to cope with loss by pretending he no longer needed whatever girl inspired these lyrics-but it’s strikingly clear that he still did.

Fiona Apple When The Pawn... (CLEAN SLATE/EPIC,1999) Easily contemporary music’s most irate singer-songwriter, Fiona Apple loads her second album with palpable anger toward the opposite sex-despite the fact that the disc’s cover reveals her smiling face. Amid her clashes of piano keys, Apple delivers smoky rants about what assholes men can be with such vigor that it’s pretty hard even for a guy not to believe her. “It’s time the truth was out/that he don’t give/a shit about me,” she yelps on the stomping “Get Gone.” Amen, sister.

Last Days Of April Angel Youth (DEEP ELM,2001) An often-ignored two-piece from Sweden, Last Days Of April deliver a hauntingly beautiful collection of songs about love and longing with their sophomore effort. With its delicate melodies, tear-streaked lyrics, and careful layering of piano and string arrangements, Angel Youth forgoes anger for straight-up depression, providing the perfect soundtrack for sitting in your darkened room and sulking as it mournfully inquires, “Will aspirins and alcohol someway decrease the ache?”

Saves The Day Stay What You Are (VAGRANT,2001) A slightly more mature effort than their earlier releases, Stay What You Are isn’t necessary all about the loss of love, but the songs that do address love and loneliness are so powerful, they seem to set the tone for the entire album. “Certain Tragedy” artfully sums up the deterioration of a relationship: “I could write you a song, send you a note, or empty out your trash/and buy a bucket full of diamonds/but even the most beautiful of all roses/must someday crumble to dust/and fade away.”

Brandston Letterbox (DEEP ELM,1998) The debut from this deeply introspective and undeniably emo band from Ohio isn’t necessarily Brandston’s best release, but emotionally, it’s their most powerful. With a combination of pop hooks and moody melodies, Brandtson channel the same catchy rock as early Jimmy Eat World and the sentiments of a lover whose heart has recently been pulverized. “Blindspot” is easily the disc’s best song, capturing the tragic pessimism that comes along with having your heart broken one too many times.