Green Day Gifts Us With a Breath of Fresh Air

Green Day's new effort comes packed full of great spark both from acoustic and electric guitar. "Still Breathing" has plenty of oxygen to spare and we're the prime benefactors of it all. The song opens armed for bear on a steady diet of prime acoustic strumming. We're not entirely sure what kind of highway we're about to journey on. Billie Joe Armstrong knows his way around the acoustic style. It's certainly showcased his friendly side, all sunshine and clear as a bell futures. As the song clicks into third gear we hear more high octane electric coupled with some high powered drumming from the illustrious one Tre Cool. He bangs away like a man possessed. He shows off his wild man chops during the chorus which features the sentiments: "Cause I'm still breathing on my own. My head's above the rain and roses making my way away, Talk about combining the bitter with the sweet. On the one hand you have the sweet smell off fresh cut roses, thorns and all. On the flip side there's the seemingly never ending rain beating down, a picture of well watered melancholy tended to by a constant, devoted gardener. It's a nice juxtaposition featuring light and dark and one combining the beauty of a spring afternoon with the solemnity of a dark life sapping winter evening. But...back to the song itself. The horsepower never ends. Even in the acoustic portion, Billie has team Green Day running on all cylinders. The pulse goes at a jaunty clip, inviting listeners along for the agreeable ride. When this tune gallops toward top speed at the electric guitar choral refrains, Tre is at his finest. His drum kit takes on a life of its own. The rat-a-tat intensity really complements Billie Joe's vocal pluck. The man sounds so happy to have weathered whatever storms life has pushed in his general direction. To be breathing on his own sends him to high levels of ecstasy that he becomes hard pressed to keep under wraps. The simple pleasure rolls of his tongue impeccably well. "Still Breathing" has wonderful harmony that holds up nicely throughout the whole song. You really like spending time with Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre, especially when the product they offer bubbles out of the champagne glass. We can relate to your child looking off on the horizon, Billie Joe. In a sense that's what we as a collective are doing, our group eye to the future, curious to discover what's coming up to surprise us around the next bend. These guys are well past the age of courting lost or regained childhood innocence but the desire for perceived simpler times remains hard to turn away from. "Still Breathing" stays crispy from first note to last. It reminds us how blissful the flow of oxygen can be especially if we've been taking it for granted way too long. Green Day truly put out a diaphragm full of impressive sentiment and sharp execution. We can all breathe a sigh of relief that Green Day's new song isn't one meant for the discard pile.