Comfort in Sound
Michael (deronn66) asked people to write about music, and after his entry on the subject, it has got me thinking about my own reasons for listening to the music I love. Along with a conversation I've been having with johncoxon for some time now.
I don't really know where to start. I wouldn't exactly say I'm a musical person; I have grade four in one instrument, no grades in theory (because I haven't tried, NOT because I failed may I point out!), I can sing in tune but it's nothing inspirational, and I fail miserably at every attempt to write a song.
And yet music is everything to me. It's a huge part of my life every single day.
I think music affects people in different ways, but for me it's something about the way a song can make you feel inside that's the best part of it. Echo Park is my happy album because whatever mood I'm in it always makes me smile without fail. The order of the songs is perfect, each leading you into the next. There's also a mixture of sounds. On one side you've got songs like Turn and Satellite News which are verging on the epic, and then there are songs like Buck Rogers and Seven Days in the Sun with their massive chorus', stupid lyrics (She's got a friend, his name is Paula, he likes to cross dress every friday night in clothes from Prada) and generally happy summer vibe. It's one of those albums that just says, pull yourself together because yeah, life can have it's bad days, but generally it rocks!
I mean musically, Feeder aren't the greatest band in the world, I can acknowledge that, but when you love a band, that kind of stuff goes out of the window. If they make you feel good then it doesn't matter what devices they use to do it, because feeling good is not something you can pin down with analytical terms. I am making no sense.
Then there's Origin of Symmetry. This is my all time greatest album. It's one of the few (of which Echo Park is also one!) which made me do a double take because it's just so mind bending the first time you listen to it. It's one of those albums where you get to the end and want to listen to it all over again just to remind yourself of how great it was the first time round. It's an album you can keep rediscovering when you haven't listened to it for a while and you can feel pretty much the same as you did the first time. The way it starts is so deceptive. The tinkling of pianos lulls you into a false sense of security for the first minute or so before the guitars are unleashed and the song turns on its head. Then, six and a half minutes later you're into Bliss with the its beautiful arpeggios, which again lead you into guitars and lyrics fuelled for a desire for something better; Everything about you resonates happiness, now I won't settle for less.
There's so much in there; the immense guitar riffs of Plug in Baby and Citizen Erased, the fantastic intros of Microcuts and Darkshines, interspersed with the most rocky piano songs you can imagine. Every song is a journey full of surprises. The best example is probably Citizen Erased, where it starts off as the heaviest song on the album, but by the end has softened to a piano and lyrics about being heartbroken. It's certainly not how you'd expect the song to end the first time you hear it.
I think that's what I like most in music; something that you're not expecting. I want a song to fool me, to make me believe that it's something that's only have the story, and then to change into something else, to morph from guitars into piano. And lyrics, yes they're important, but when you first hear an album you don't know the lyrics, you don't know what the song it about. It's the music that touches you first, that grabs your soul. They lyrics follow and yeah, they can make or break a song and are very important, but the music is more so.
But music is so much more than just something to listen to. It's like a great friend, if you need it it's there, no questions asked. It's the sympathetic ear you need when you're down that tells you that life sucks, but you're not alone in feeling that way, and things can get better. Sometimes you need to listen to a depressing song to feel that there is a light at the end of tunnel. When a song or a band has helped you through a tough time, it's not something you forget easily and you're always going to remember it.
I find that with Muse and Feeder. Feeder's Pushing the Senses came out at a time when I needed it. There was one song, Bitter Glass, that summed everything up, it was like he had written it to me to tell me to pull myself together because I was just wallowing in my own self pity and not getting anywhere. Then Muse came along last October. I was a few months out of the most important relationship of my life so far which left me feeling completely empty and drained and feeling like I'd forgotten how to be me completely on my own, doing the things that I wanted. It was something new and fresh that said that there is an awful lot of life out there waiting to be lived if you go out and grab it. They were, and still are inspirational. Every time I hear a Muse song it makes me want to pick up my guitar and play, because I can't think of much that could possibly be greater than being able to give your entire life to music.
But at the same time, music has to mean something, the lyrics and the music needs to tell a story that someone in the world can identify with. There's too much completely soulless music in the world, but I guess that just helps me to appreciate the truly great stuff even more.