David Ramirez - Were Not Going Anywhere (2017)

David Ramirez wears his Mexican-American heritage proudly on his defiantly-titled, Thirty Tigers debut We’re Not Going Anywhere. “Being half white and half Mexican has made this current political climate especially interesting,” he says. “So many cultures in this country are being viewed as un-American, and it breaks my heart. My family has raised children here, created successful businesses here, and are proud to be a part of this country. Most of what I’ve seen as of late is misplaced fear. I wanted to write about that fear and how, instead of benefiting us, it sends us spiraling out control.” Refusing to be a target of someone else’s paranoia and prejudice, Ramirez mixes philosophy and provocation throughout this fine collection of songs.

The first words of “Twins”, the album’s opener, are “Where were you when we lost the twins? / Where were you when the fear set in?”. Rather than a chorus there follows a simple, sad refrain: “There she goes. Goodbye America.” Ramirez sees our country descending into a tailspin, its citizens drunk on willful self-deception and paranoia willing to compromise every principle in the service of isolationist patriotism, and he has undoubtedly found himself the subject of prejudicial ire. “Give me a dirty look scream till you’re blue in the face”, he sings in “People Call Who They Want to Talk To”, “Throw punches and tell me you hate me I’ll handle it all with grace.” There is no questioning the source of this anger and will to violence, as he sings later, in “Stoneage”: “I’m having trouble seeing colors in the dawn’s early light / No more red, no more blue: all I’m seein’ is white.” His response to all this is simple, somber, and defiant: presence as a revolutionary act. On the album’s closing song, he declares “I’m not going anywhere / You can bury me in the ground or spread my ashes I don’t care / I’m not going anywhere.”

TRACKLIST

01. Twins
02. Watching From A Distance
03. People Call Who They Wanna Talk To
04. Time
05. Good Heart
06. Stone Age
07. Telephone Lovers
08. Villain
09. Eliza Jane
10. I'm Not Going Anywhere