Mason Proper’s jam “100 Years” takes the Gatorade infused carpe diem mantra to a level which sports drink peddlers and weight room proprietors have not yet dared to dream. “Don’t die,” says Mason Proper. It’s the simplicity of a plan that proves its brilliance: “Why even write a will / ‘Cause we will never die if we don’t resign / To a life fulfilled.”

This is unsound legal advice and I’m not sure when a fulfilled life starting being synonymous with ennui, but the verve of the overall sentiment here is to be applauded. “100 Years” is the inverse of the gag-inducing nostalgia of the Five For Fighting schlock that makes use of the same gimmick. Don’t live fully so that you’ll have something to look back on at your death, live so intensely that you literally don’t die! The latter, despite (or perhaps because of) being obviously the more ridiculous, is also the more listenable.

With a premise so ostentatious it hardly matters what the music sounds like, but I’ll tell you anyway. “100 Years” sounds like one of those great Idlewild b-sides that outshine the album they were cut from, the kind of song that would have made disappointed fans say things like, “Why the fuck didn’t they put that on?” There’s a distracting and needless breakdown in the middle of this track that’s especially noticeable given its otherwise no-holds-barred tenor, but it’s not a deal breaker. The clever, if vague, philosophical lyrical underpinnings and the clean production would make this song fit comfortably on a hip Top 40 rotation; which is to say that we may be hearing more from Mason Proper in the near future, especially if the marketing executive of Mountain Dew has a son that reads CMG.

permanent link ::