Live Review: WATCH: Ball Park Music 'Surrender' (Official Video)

I don’t want to detract from how fantastic BALL PARK MUSIC is as a whole but please let me take this opportunity to say that I am obsessed with Sam Cromack as a person.

Before I go any further I want to stress that Sam Cromack does not need to take out a restraining order on me. It’s a platonic love. The same love I feel for Simba from The Lion King and lemonade Icy Poles. They—and Cromack—light up my life in a way that nothing else does. Bassist Jen with that new haircut though? Totally different story.

Ahem. Here’s the scoop on the video: it’s been out for a while but I was too busy enjoying the band (and the freak hailstorm) at Byron Bay’s Splendour in the Grass (and yes, I am going to stop talking about it now, I promise). It’s light-hearted, aesthetically-pleasing fare that sees the band demonstrate their quirky sense of humour as they have in the videos for past tracks like “It’s Nice To Be Alive” and “Literally Baby”, with a touch of the utter sweetness and nostalgia seen in the video for “All I Want Is You”.

The song itself—well, you’ve probably heard it at this point. For those of you who’ve been in a post-festival coma or busy boycotting Triple J because you hate The Doctor/think it’s 100% lame (ahem, Andrew Stockdale, who shouldn’t be throwing chat at anyone about “selling out”, considering that Wolfmother’s greatest success to date is their permanent place on the Sports Tonight highlights reel soundtrack): it’s nothing out of turn for the band.

In fact, it is everything that has come to be expected of Ball Park Music, and just a little bit more: slightly more upbeat and, strangely, slightly more reflective; restrained and yet emphatic; to my ears, an earnest ode to straddling the years between all of the potential of your youth, the realities of your adulthood and the choices associated.

At least, that’s what I’ll be taking from this song. The beauty of it is, it’s going to mean something different to all those who hear it.

Words by Cheryl Billman

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