After three years and many small battles to get it released, Arthur Killroad’s debut full-length album,The Things You Should Know How To Do, is finally here.
And it was worth the wait. If the acoustic musicians of Athens were the ensemble cast of the TV showFriends, then Ohio University senior Mike Petruccelli as Arthur Killroad would be Chandler Bing. For as he said himself in the track “Starving Artist Convention,” he is “the one with the guitar and half-smiled grin/ the smartass comments and judgmental quips.”
Most college students use this attitude as a coping mechanism though, and the way that Killroad describes the early-twenties mentality is dead on, in terms of relationships, family and college life.
The self-degradation and judgment that constantly roam through young people’s heads is woefully described in “Watch It Sink”, as he sings “The people were walking and I was watching all of them as they moved/ as they all marched down the streets/ moving just like ants/ I couldn’t help but judge them all by their shoes, T-shirts and pants.”
The music complements these lyrics as well with Killroad sounding similar to his acoustic contemporaries Dashboard Confessional and Ben Lee. Though this is not a unique sound, it will continue in the future, but if one of those future artists is Arthur Killroad, no one would mind.
No matter how original or typical his sound is, Killroad makes no apologies in “This Is Something Witty” as he directly croons, “And as for every critic/ who has something to say/ I’m not apologizing, I’m only describing things/ and saying how I feel about them.”
His closing track, “Harvard on the Hocking,” is the most delightful of all as an ode to OU. It is catchy, introspective and encompassing of all things college — just like Arthur Killroad.
