Colony House is an alternative rock band from Tennessee, consisting of four members; Caleb Chapman, Will Chapman, Scott Mills, and Parke Cottrell. They self released 3 EPs before releasing their first album, When I Was Younger in 2013. Their second studio album Only The Lonely was released January 13, 2017.
Only The Lonely takes audiences through a voyage of life’s ups and downs, touching on emotions of loneliness, love, and travel through 13 upbeat, dance-worthy songs. Starting out with the song ‘Cannot Do This Alone,’ Colony House tells of relationships and the common theme that they cannot do it alone and need the support and love from others.
The song ‘Lonely,’ reverberates the theme of feeling alone, saying “sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who ever felt alone.” This song has a heavy emphasis on drums, and there are echoes of the vocals that could be a play on the idea of your voice echoing in an empty space. In the song ‘Where Your Father’s Been,’ they end by cutting off all musical instruments besides the vocals, enhancing their voices and heightening the theme of singularity.
‘You & I’ is my favorite track of the album. There is dialogue in the beginning of the recording, which I always find interesting in songs. There is a constant riff of the guitar, and Colony House plays with the tempo throughout this song. When they repeat “give me some love” in the song, it gives off a sound reminiscent of Queen.
The song ‘You Know It’ is the perfect theme song for road trips. It sounds like it was made for jamming in the car, and it talks about driving from “Nashville to San Francisco” and “all the pretty people and the places [they’ve] seen.”
The album moves from describing feelings of loneliness, to emotions on the road, to creating the most out of life, no matter the situation. In the second to last song, ‘Remembered For,’ Colony House reigns in the topic of loneliness, saying “I was born to be someone” and “I feel like I was born to love.” They flip the topics from “Cannot Do It Alone” of needing others to being the support for others in ‘Remembered For.’
Colony House wraps up the album with the song ‘This Beautiful Life.’ This song is softer than all of the other tracks on the album, and it has a little bit of Lord Huron vibes. They wonder about the purpose of their lives, saying “what in the world are we doing here? What is the meaning of it all?” They answer their question, saying “well maybe I’m a part of something that’s bigger than me, like I’m a page in a book in a library… ‘cause I know that there’s a place where I belong.” Colony house moves through Only The Lonely as though they are telling a story; they describe tough situations and feelings of isolation in the beginning, then move to ones of travel, strength, love and support in relationships. They then bring it all back to the positive outlooks in a “wonderful, terrible, beautiful life” that everyone experiences.
