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Meg & Dia
• Here, Here, and Here

Here, Here, and Here by Meg & Dia is a phenomenal album.  As I was sitting down to write this review I was trying to figure out where to start and I thought to myself, even if someone just reads the first sentence I want them to know how great the album is.   I can’t even stress enough how beautifully well written it is from start to finish.

Meg & Dia caught my attention not long after the 2007 release of their first full length Something Real.  If I remember right, my friend Tom had me listen to his side project with Meg, aptly named MegaTom.  From there I picked up Something Real and definitely enjoyed it.  After finding out how many of the songs were based on classical novels such as Indiana by George Sands and East of Eden by John Steinbeck (plus many others), I fell in love with the album.

Meg & Dia consist of sisters Meg and Dia Frampton.  Early on the girls were joined by Carlo on guitar.  His solo’s are really something to see live.  Then later Nick on drums and Jonathon on bass joined the MaD family.
Over the years, I have seen Meg & Dia play numerous times.  My favorite thing about seeing them live is that it is never the same show.  They often rewrite songs for particular tour.   They have put out a handful of EPs over the years, my favorite being If You Are Broke, Find Something to Sue Someone For which included rewrites they did for Warped Tour 2007.   I think it says a lot that a band can take a song that was good enough to record and release in the first place then push it further.
The first song I heard from Here, Here, and Here was Black Wedding during their 2008 tour with Angels and Airwaves.  It was so catchy and different from anything else I had heard from them.  It was only a small spark  of how great the album would prove to be.

Finally in April 2009, the album was released.  Every single one of the thirteen tracks tells such an amazing, vivid, and interesting story.  It is like the sisters collided their own lives with the essence of the classical books they have read and distilled them down to these songs.  The result is truly unique lyrics and complex music.

The songs range anything from lyrics about boys, to rape, to political statements, to religion (or lack thereof), to simply describing the sisters’ lives.  If you get a chance to go to Meg  & Dia’s myspace, definitely read the blog titled The Story of Here, Here, and Here – By Dia.   It is about how the album came to be.  It is framed with a story about pumping gas, there is very specific descriptions of how each song was written (I cried at her description of Kiss You Goodnight), and it is entwined with a completely honest story of trying to get through a breakup.  It is one of the best pieces of writing I have ever came across.

This is another album that I have trouble picking out a song or two to recommend to people to check out.  Each song is so very different in both sound and meaning.  One nice thing about the album though is that it is coherent sound wise.  The music is easily distinguishable as being Meg & Dia on every track. That I would say is thanks to the band . Even though the sisters write all the lyrics and music to a point, it is the boys that truly bring it to life. They are what gives the band their classic rock sound mixed with more modern indie-pop.  The guitar parts in particular remind me of Bryan Adams or Blind Melon.

Meg & Dia will next be through Portland (more accurately Hillsboro) for Warped Tour.  Go buy the album, fall in love with it, and then come sing along to all the songs like I will be doing.