Armor for sleep.

IN THIS ERA OF WHINY, "I hate my girlfriend" ditties and boomin'-in-your-jeep club cuts, the fancy for concept records--you know, albums that, when they are done well, showcase artists spreading their wings toward more enlightening thematic journeys--seems to have gone by the wayside.

One notable exception to this trend is Armor for Sleep's Ben Jorgensen, who at the young age of 21 has not only penned a tasteful follow-up to his troupe's Equal Vision debut (Dream to Make Believe) but delivered it in the form of, yes, a concept album--dubbed, morosely enough, What To Do When You Are Dead--that somehow takes his already cerebral sonic visions to greater levels.

So, what inspired Jorgensen and his Armor for Sleep cohorts--traditionally purveyors of emo-glazed confections--to go the storyteller route? According to Jorgensen, ever the exuberant tunesmith, "My favorite records ever are records like OK Computer and Dark Side of the Moon. Every song on those records are good on their own, but it's part of this bigger thing that you can think about for years and wonder what the point of it all is. The 'hit song' approach is what works for a lot of bands. I just can't see ourselves ever being happy with a random collection of pop songs--that's not what we're about."

But what Armor for Sleep is about, at least on its latest song-cycle, seems to be more along the dour lines of, say, Beetlejuice than the typical love song scenario, given the somber overtone of the title of the new album.

"The concept of What To Do When You Are Dead is what it would be like if I had to write songs not in my room by myself in the middle of the night, which, pathetically, I do, but from the afterlife looking down on everything moving on after I've left," Jorgensen shares with a tinge of seriousness. "I wanted to be honest with myself and a good way for me to do so was imagining that I died. Once I did that I could think about what impact, if any, I have made on everyone else around me so far in the 21 years I've been walking around here."

While Jorgensen's current status doesn't quite put him up there with the Dylans or Lennons of the world, if nothing else he hopes that listeners are able to identify with his tuneful trip through purgatory. Based on the glistening yet weathered melodies of Sunny Day Real Estate and the rollicking riffs of Jimmy Eat World, Armor for Sleep has managed to expand its ebullient, catchy sound into something more mature on this ambitious second full-length, which is both pleasing to the ear and challenging to the mind--facets Jorgensen definitely looks for in music. "I want the albums that we make to be from different standpoints," the energetic vocalist/guitarist states. "I would be so bored making an album every year and a half or whatever if it was just: 'Hi, this is Armor for Sleep. Here are more songs about the same stuff.' Where's the challenge in that?"

Not to be outdone, the band also managed to best itself in the album packaging department this time with the inclusion of a "guide" to the world Jorgensen and Company hope listeners are willing to follow them into.

"It's similar to an airplane survival manual in how ridiculous both things are," Jorgensen chuckles. "It has simple instructions and illustrations about being a ghost and how to move around and to steer clear of doing things that might freak a ghost out. It's no surprise to me that despite the widespread placement of airplane survival manuals in every aircraft in the skies, not one life has been saved in a water landing by the flotation device under each seat. I don't know what I hope people get from the record, but I can tell you that if ghosts existed, they would probably be kind of lonely."

So, where does Jorgensen stand on life after death, or the philosophical conundrums associated with that age old question? "Well, I don't believe in the afterlife, although I would like to," Jorgensen admits. "I would recommend to someone to ask god or the devil or whatever weird thing you are supposed to encounter to kill them for good. How bad would it be to exist forever?!"

Although it's a given that neither Jorgensen, nor anyone else, will outlast Father Time, he prides himself on what he has accomplished artistically in the present and where he intends to take his vision in the future. Though the corporate-fueled music scene may have brought out his jaded side, Jorgensen hopes the head-nod inducing, rock-laden jams he and his comrades have created help push creativity and originality back into focus. "I'm excited that the kids seem to like us--not our fashions or how trendy we are," Jorgensen enthuses. "I hope people know that we are for real and not only that, but things that are not for real make us ill."