Ellington

* Listen to Colour Revolt's "Mattresses Underwater", the song Casey Parks describes as "undeniably one of the best songs of 2006" here! *

"There are places some of us can't face, yet," Jesse Coppenbarger begins on "Mattresses Underwater." Undeniably one of the best songs of 2006, the Colour Revolt tune has caught the attention of critics all over America. Spin.com praised the song for its "jangly, interwoven guitars and laid-back drums that build to a crescendo complemented by throaty screams and frenzied riffs." Naming it the song of the day in July, Salon.com called "Mattresses Underwater" a "melodic and not at all abrasive or tricky song."

It really is something special—gorgeous and intricate and beyond categorization. Bolstered by beautiful, abstract lyrics, the song thrashes with melody. Coppenbarger howls over ethereal chords laced together. The song breaks down, then rebuilds into one shattering swell leaving you with nothing but a tingly spine and an ear that asks for more.

But listen just a little deeper. It's a song of assurance, too: "When we see it, we don't believe it," Coppenbarger sings. "We've got our faces made for smiling, but we are weeping."

It's been a busy year for Colour Revolt. With all but one member still in school in Oxford, the boys use the weekends to drive to Texas or another nearby state to play a couple of shows. A few weeks ago, they drove all the way to the Knitting Factory in New York and back in only one weekend. I talked with guitarist Jimmy Cajoleas, on the phone from a concert in Houston, Texas, about the song's success:

How did this song come about?

Two years back Jess (Coppenbarger, lead singer) and Len (Clark, drums) lived in this house kind of out in the country. We didn't have enough furniture to fill any of the rooms. It was sparse, and we had this empty practice room. The first time we wrote what became that song, it was this super slow Pedro -the-Lion type song. We didn't like it. Then we kept adding to it. We did a makeshift, one-mic recording of it, listened to it again and thought, "Hey this is pretty good."

It was one of the few songs where we all sat and talked about it, what we thought about it, what it could mean. It's very much a song that represents where we were at that time. A lot of strange things had been happening, as far as deaths and people we knew, the way people change when you have to move and you have to grow up, learning that certain things that you had believed in for a long time aren't really real at all.

I'm not going to pin down one specific "this is what it is," but it's definitely a song about questioning and some level of confusion, but it's not a despair song. It's an anti-despair song. There is a recognition of lots of problems and lots of doubts, but there is an unwillingness to leave it at that.

Where did the title come from?

I don't know. It's an interesting image.

What did it feel like the first time you played it live?

The first place we played it was at W.C. Don's before the walls were knocked down. It was the first time we had played anything other than the songs we played when we were younger.

When you finished the song, did you feel this would be the song that would catch the nation's attention?

We never planned that big. The first real demo we did of it was at Tweed studios in Oxford with Andrew Ratcliffe, and I remember being so happy about it because it was so much better than anything we ever thought we'd do. I played it for two friends, and they didn't know who it was. That was a good feeling.

Do you think it sounds different or very similar to your other songs?

It's definitely more melodically strong. It has a deliberate, slower pace to it. I think it fits. It's different, but I don't think it's so different that it doesn't go with the other songs.

Which magazine was the first to take notice of the song?

When Salon.com made it the download of the day, that kind of blew our minds. It's a Web site I regularly go to, and I was like, "Wow, are you kidding me?" I didn't even know how they had it. Team Clermont, this Athens-based publicity team, had a lot to do with some of the magazines hearing the songs. People have been very responsive to it, and we are very grateful for it.

Do you have plans for a full-length?

We are writing for one, but it's been a busy year. By December, we'll have played 125 shows this year.