210. Song No. 3,208: “Faint of Hearts,” Maritime
Human Hearts, 2011

To continue the theme of my abject failure in gauging the passage of time I so prodigiously demonstrated with the E’s, I cannot believe this album is more than a decade old already. The interminable wait for it to drop and the escalating anticipation in the final lap ’til its release day just don’t seem as intangibly distant as that kind of time distance suggests, but I’d wager part of what made that wait seem so unbearable that it still feels within reach was the unbridled joy all intertwined in Promise Ring 2.0 sticking around for another record.

Maritime was a completely chance encounter I can credit to the college radio station. The wealth of music that nexus of my friend groups introduced me to is well-documented here, but Maritime was less of a meeting and more a reunion. I had, at that point, no idea TPR had essentially reformed under a new name and in a natural progression of sound established in their absolute departure of a swan song that didn’t really grow on me until I heard it in the context of a stepping stone between Davey von Bohlen projects. The joy of grabbing a CD based on the merit of its cover art and liking the music was enough of a win; that almost immediate moment of “Waaaaait, I know that voice!” spawning sky-high and easily met expectations was like running into an old, sorely missed friend after we both found ourselves in better places after a few years of unintentional radio silence.

It was the start of a renewed connection that’s a lovely allegory for how much better every relationship of mine that started before college became if it survived into adulthood, even (maybe especially?) when lengthy pauses and overdue apologies and fresh starts were part of the journey.

So I was all-in when Human Hearts came out; much to my delight and relief, it was worth the wait and, ultimately, a longtime mainstay in my car’s archaic-even-back-then six-disc changer. The whole album still holds up wonderfully for me but, even after all this time, “Faint of Hearts” remains that song I’m both eagerly waiting for and putting on repeat the most.

For the life of me, I couldn’t elaborate on what made this song first stand out to me and separate itself from an album filled with music I love. Nor could I venture a guess as to why it still has a special place in my heart, since it is a tune without much of a story beyond my fondness for it.

However. I do know that it compelled me early on to digitally scribble on Human Hearts‘ Last.fm page about old habits that die hard.