Wealth of Time - Pepe and The Bandits

 Here's a nice and easy one for you. By request, the gang over at Pepe and The Bandits sent me their latest single, "Wealth of Time," and asked that I might provide some feedback on it. I'm not super big on reviewing singles, as I feel it doesn't really give me enough insight as to who the band truly is and who they are trying to be, however I am not one to turn down an artist who so bravely and graciously asked for my two cents. So, away we go.

"Wealth of Time" is a tender ballad about the experience of aging and our years passing us by. It features a beautiful acoustic melody, and even more beautiful lyrics. It's truly like poetry. As I have said in many previous posts, slow songs are not my favorite thing in the world. So it took me a minute to really get engaged in this track. But in my second, third, and even fourth listen of it, I started to appreciate it more and more. With every new listen I caught a different lyric, that added something new to the message of the song. So for my slow song fans out there, I do recommend you give this one a try.

In a typical Synic Spins review post, I'll give my favorite and least favorite tracks, followed by a rating of the record out of 10. Since I'm only doing one song in this case, I won't do any of that, instead I'll just briefly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the track. The two elements of "Wealth of Time" that really stand out for me are the beautifully played acoustic guitar melody throughout the entire composition, and the lyrics themselves. Sonically, the guitar part is like a ray of sunlight breaking through the rainclouds. Cheesy metaphor, I know, but it's an accurate one, nonetheless. The lyrics are like poetry to me. Simple poetry, perhaps, as it is riddled with cliches and typical metaphors that we've all heard before. But when you consider the entire purpose of this song is to relate to those metaphors and use them as a means of comforting listeners who fear the process of growing old, it somehow works.

The biggest weaknesses, for me, are also twofold. The first glaring issue I have with this song is the spoken word part in the song's intro. There's a loud ticking clock, paired with the whispered words "There's no time..." repeated over and over. It leads me to feel almost uncomfortable and anxious, as one might feel when watching a scary movie when the protagonist enters a dark room and their flashlight is dying. Then the acoustic melody commences and that feeling drifts away, in a very sudden and confusing manner. Simply put, I'm not sure the intro really fits the whole sound and tone of the rest of the song. My other hesitation with this song, though this one is very minor compared to my first point, is the ending. It ends very abruptly on the last lyric, followed by an unsteady beeping of a heart monitor. Again, I'm not crazy about this and I don't really feel it fits all that well with the rest of the song. The beginning, sure, but the core of it? not so much.

All in all, "Wealth of Time" really comes together as a beautiful acoustic ballad. That is something I never thought I would say in one of these reviews. While I am very unsure of the intro and outro to the piece, it's the heart of the song that I really appreciated.