It’s still at the green paper stage
February 19, 2010 at 10:17 am | Posted in music | Leave a commentTags: blindsided, bon iver, cardiff, cold, for emma, for emma forever ago, ice, justin vernon, self-indulgent ramblings, snow, wisconsin
The weather’s gone cold again – it was snowing yesterday in Cardiff, and it’s still icy today. As news hooks go, I am aware that this is, frankly, a bit shit. Still, this is a blog, not an exercise in the writing of hard news – what more do you want from me? Blood?
I’m not a fan of snow – I’m way too clumsy at the best of times – but I do have a proposal for a new law. When it snows, everyone should have to listen to Bon Iver. It’s still very much at the green paper stage, but I think it could work quite well.
Maybe it’s just the associations I’ve made in my head – I spent last year’s freezing February listening to the wonderfully-titled For Emma, Forever Ago to death while staring mournfully out of the window at the snow – but it just always appears to me to be the ideal soundtrack to the winter.
The backstory of the album ties in perfectly, too – to the point of being a PR agency’s wet dream. Justin Vernon has described the recording process, holed up alone in his father’s cabin in the woods of Wisconsin following the terminal demise of a relationship, as somewhat akin to hibernation: “I left North Carolina and went up there because I didn’t know where else to go and I knew that I wanted to be alone and I knew that I wanted to be where it was cold.”
Delicate, haunting and eerie, this is not music to socialise by; this is music for solitude, for you and your thoughts. It’s isolationist, but it’s just so apt.
It’s all gone a bit High Fidelity…
February 14, 2010 at 11:42 pm | Posted in music | 1 CommentTags: alkaline trio, avenged sevenfold, biffy clyro, big cheese, blackened sky, bon iver, death cab for cutie, high fidelity, i will follow you into the dark, inme, lais mw, love, lust, mgmt, nostalgia, radio, richard tait, romance, the libertines, time to pretend, valentine's day
I don’t place much significance on Valentine’s Day, I must admit. If you’re part of a couple, of course it’s a lovely day, but most days are lovely when you’re in a relationship (that’s half of the point of being in one, isn’t it?); if you’re single, it’s a day of no more import than any other.
Still, I could hardly let February 14 go by without comment – it’s a day traditionally associated with romance, and Lord knows that love, lust and music are eager bedfellows. Just look at High Fidelity. The book, that is – not the film, you philistine.
Music is, I think, the most evocative form of expression; it’s quite astonishing how songs have the capability to bring things to mind before you’ve even got a chance to consciously register them.
InMe, for instance, always bring to mind the first few awkward dates with my first boyfriend (and anything from Biffy Clyro‘s Blackened Sky album provokes a twitch of annoyance that he’s still got my bloody CD). The Libertines remind me of being serenaded with an acoustic guitar – and I can’t listen to Avenged Sevenfold without a wry smile at the memory of being dumped via text message at one of their gigs. ‘Time to Pretend‘ by MGMT takes me back to an exact place and time; Bon Iver signify a particularly interminable February.
It’s incredible how music can chart the highs and lows of your life: it’s a very large part of why I love it so much.
My friend Lais came into the maglab all a-flutter a few weeks ago, having received an email from Big Cheese magazine asking for her top five anti-love songs. My response was immediate – ‘Radio’ by Alkaline Trio:
It’s the ultimate in “seriously, fuck you” songs. “Waking up next to nothing / after dreaming of you and me / I’m waking up all alone / waking up so relieved” – hasn’t everybody felt like that at some point? It’s just a fantastic summing-up of the anger, bitterness and nigh-on hatred which can follow a bad break-up.
However, I’m not enough of a cynic to leave it at that. I’ve learnt too much about journalistic impartiality from Richard Tait to not give the opposition a chance to voice its side. This – ‘I Will Follow You into the Dark’ by Death Cab for Cutie – is quite possibly the sweetest song I know:
Let’s be honest: this is what we’re all really looking for.
If anyone else has any love/anti-love song recommendations, I’d be pretty keen to hear them!
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
