TUNES // Porlolo – Wasting Time (I Was A Fool)

Post by Misha

There’s kind of an unspoken rule that choruses have to be bigger, louder, and more exciting than the verse. I’m not sure why I never really questioned that before now.

Wasting Time trots into the ring confident; haughty. It sparks with youthful love and contradictions: “Is it too much to ask to wait on me? I never waited for anybody else”

But instead of leaning into recriminations and rock ‘n’ roll, the chorus reflects growth (just not in a way you can measure in decibels). Rather, everything slows down; youth grinds to a halt, becomes regretful, makes time for reverb-drenched guitar solos.

“I was a fool, I was a fool, I was a fool,” croons Porlolo’s Erin Roberts over and over, trying to make up for some unspecified past sin. It becomes a tender mantra for self-reflection, and a reminder that the most significant moments in life (or in songs) don’t have to be the loudest.

Porlolo is the longtime project of Erin Roberts, who has spent the last 15 years traveling the country and taking musical inspiration from the people and landscapes she encounters, and recording those inspirations with various friends along the way. Porlolo‘s latest EP is called Awards, and you can buy it here.