Matt's Track of the Week: Jarrod Gorbel's "Optimism"

Song: Optimism

Artist: Jarrod Gorbel

Album: Ten Years Older EP

Rating: 8.0

Okay, so this song and EP were technically 'released' late last year as a tour-exclusive, with very little promotion and fanfare. This may not constitute as hot off the presses, however, it has recently been given major outlets of distribution, and because of that, I thought it would be good idea to bring it to the attention of our reading public. Jarrod Gorbel was one of the two main minds behind the now-defunct Honorary Title's Anything Else But the Truth (#34 on our Best of the Decade list), and with that notch on his belt, there's bound to be more genius where that came from. 2007's Scream and Light Up the Sky was no exception to this either.

What Gorbel brings to the table with "Optimism", is the same thing that originally attracted us and many others to his work in the first place. His soulful melodies and insightful narratives make for a breath of fresh air in the category of 'painfully honest guy with a guitar'. With a deceivingly simplistic approach, Gorbel delivers time and again, with songs that speak to our darkest character flaws, and romanticize the sometimes-destructive lifestyle that we live from day to day, as young people finding our way in the modern age. On "Optimism", these minor evils are wrapped in a metaphor-ridden cocoon of vague catchiness, and hand-delivered by the man himself. Check it out below.