A note from Bryan on "ONR"
Simply put, "On Northern Roads" is an album about talking to yourself.
When I started out, I had a plan of what the overall theme of the album was going to be. It truly is an album about having an intense battle within your head about decisions to be made, considering what's important, and doing what you believe is right for you.
There are three characters in the story. The first wants to get out and quit hiding away from the world. This is the responsible side that says you need to get up and face reality because when you do, you have a chance to exhibit skills that you posses yet leave dormant. This is the positive side that sees we have been given gifts to use and they could be cultivated into great accomplishments. This is the part that knows what needs to be done, but he has to overcome the weaker side.
The weaker side would love to get out and fulfill all of the grand ideas that he sees in his head, but reality chases him back to his most familiar place, his bed with the door shut and blinds and curtains drawn. He is the dreamer that can't get past the perfected notions in his head. He is haunted by the thought of disappointment.
Those two entities are in constant battle with each other and our third character is just out to referee the struggle between the two. He tries to keep it as sane as possible and take positives out of both. He melds the two into one and we have an overall theme of balancing the two of them, taking positives and negatives alike.
"On Northern Roads" means we're on the right path but we must continue to work our way through the derailments along the way and the plateaus that spur us on further. |
