o k k e r v i l r i v e r
la la la la.
have you ever played to a song on repeat?
how many times did you listen to it until you changed the track?
i felt an urge to clean my dreadfully dirty apartment as a pre-cursor to the spring. i guess it was wisconsin wishful thinking since it was only the first week of february and the groundhog just spotted his shadow. six more weeks of winter was inevitable, but i was doing my part to try to jump start the process.
i gathered the broom, the febreeze, some glass cleaner, a few rags, and a box for connor. connor, one of my three roommates is always looking to something... his wallet, his cell phone, his keys, etc. searching for connor's lost items is one of my favorites games to play around the house and cleaning usually reveals all the things he's lost over the past year. the box was created in effort to reunite the man with his stuff... lost apparel, mail, important documents, expensive electronics, and all his other random shit. i'm sure you'll hear more about connor in future posts.
tackling a dirty apartment requires some sick tunes. so, i queued up my favorite playlist, plugged in the speakers, and pressed play.
the first step was to remove all random items from the living room, which resulted in a huge mess somewhere else. somewhere else tends to be the hallway, but i've been known to pile all sorts of stuff onto the couch until the completion of the general clean. the kitchen also takes a beating with all of the random and unwashed dishes that were left out since the last time i had the urge to clean. the kitchen is a whole other project entirely, but usually by this time the living room is starting to look presentable. i believe that in order to effectively clean any area, you must first create messes everywhere else.
my playlist was fueling the cleaning effort when okkervil river's lost coastlines began to play. i stopped, set the broom down and listened to it like it was the first time. i listened to the album before and i enjoyed this song in the past, but today it sounded better than before. so, i walked towards my computer and hit the repeat button. an hour later, i was singing in harmony (the odds of me hitting any sort of harmony are unlikely, at best) and la la la-ing as the song wrapped.
i had made a connection with this song and after 12 consecutive plays and i was still learning more about the track. i don't think i've ever played a song 12 times in a row. it seems quirky and weird to listen to only one song for an extended period of time, but for that cold winter day, i was content. i made a connection with this song over a couple of hours of cleaning. in that time, i learned the lyrics and started to decipher the song's meaning. i made my own assumption on the song's themes although, i can't help but wonder how accurate my assumptions are?
to me, it's like viewing a piece of modern art for the first time.
i visited the reina sofia museum in madrid and saw picasso's el guernica. it's an enormous piece and i feel like i could've stood there for an hour trying to figure out picasso's intentions. i viewed it for the first time without any prior knowledge or understanding of the back story of the piece. i made my own assumptions on the painting and considered ways of adapting picasso's work to align with my thoughts. go figure, his painting depicted the bombing of guernica, basque country, by german and italian warplanes during the spanish civil war... not exactly what i was thinking of, but good to know.
there was a purpose to this analogy...
in short, give things time and strive to make a connection with everything you experience.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
lost coastlines.okkervil river
the twangy guitar guides the song through the unique and dichotomous singers of this track. i enjoy the way the song rallies at the end. it concludes with a refreshing breath of la la la's that tend to result in a listener sing-a-long. the success of okkervil river has been minimal on the mainstream, however they are one of many incredible bands on the jagjaguwar label.
have you ever played to a song on repeat?
how many times did you listen to it until you changed the track?
i felt an urge to clean my dreadfully dirty apartment as a pre-cursor to the spring. i guess it was wisconsin wishful thinking since it was only the first week of february and the groundhog just spotted his shadow. six more weeks of winter was inevitable, but i was doing my part to try to jump start the process.
i gathered the broom, the febreeze, some glass cleaner, a few rags, and a box for connor. connor, one of my three roommates is always looking to something... his wallet, his cell phone, his keys, etc. searching for connor's lost items is one of my favorites games to play around the house and cleaning usually reveals all the things he's lost over the past year. the box was created in effort to reunite the man with his stuff... lost apparel, mail, important documents, expensive electronics, and all his other random shit. i'm sure you'll hear more about connor in future posts.
tackling a dirty apartment requires some sick tunes. so, i queued up my favorite playlist, plugged in the speakers, and pressed play.
the first step was to remove all random items from the living room, which resulted in a huge mess somewhere else. somewhere else tends to be the hallway, but i've been known to pile all sorts of stuff onto the couch until the completion of the general clean. the kitchen also takes a beating with all of the random and unwashed dishes that were left out since the last time i had the urge to clean. the kitchen is a whole other project entirely, but usually by this time the living room is starting to look presentable. i believe that in order to effectively clean any area, you must first create messes everywhere else.
my playlist was fueling the cleaning effort when okkervil river's lost coastlines began to play. i stopped, set the broom down and listened to it like it was the first time. i listened to the album before and i enjoyed this song in the past, but today it sounded better than before. so, i walked towards my computer and hit the repeat button. an hour later, i was singing in harmony (the odds of me hitting any sort of harmony are unlikely, at best) and la la la-ing as the song wrapped.
i had made a connection with this song and after 12 consecutive plays and i was still learning more about the track. i don't think i've ever played a song 12 times in a row. it seems quirky and weird to listen to only one song for an extended period of time, but for that cold winter day, i was content. i made a connection with this song over a couple of hours of cleaning. in that time, i learned the lyrics and started to decipher the song's meaning. i made my own assumption on the song's themes although, i can't help but wonder how accurate my assumptions are?
to me, it's like viewing a piece of modern art for the first time.
i visited the reina sofia museum in madrid and saw picasso's el guernica. it's an enormous piece and i feel like i could've stood there for an hour trying to figure out picasso's intentions. i viewed it for the first time without any prior knowledge or understanding of the back story of the piece. i made my own assumptions on the painting and considered ways of adapting picasso's work to align with my thoughts. go figure, his painting depicted the bombing of guernica, basque country, by german and italian warplanes during the spanish civil war... not exactly what i was thinking of, but good to know.
there was a purpose to this analogy...
in short, give things time and strive to make a connection with everything you experience.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
lost coastlines.okkervil river
the twangy guitar guides the song through the unique and dichotomous singers of this track. i enjoy the way the song rallies at the end. it concludes with a refreshing breath of la la la's that tend to result in a listener sing-a-long. the success of okkervil river has been minimal on the mainstream, however they are one of many incredible bands on the jagjaguwar label.
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