Why was I on foot in Milton? It is an embarrassing story, but I best get it off my chest. Saturday I was determined to get our 90's model "weighs a ton" big screen Sony tv off to the special electronic recycling event in Georgetown. It took three of us to wrestle and roll the thing into the Santa Fe. I was just up the road from my destination when the cursed thing shifted as I turned and smashed the back window of our SUV. It was not my finest hour.
Back to music. The beginning of this song has a wonderful hissing rhythm. It sounds like a combo of a computer beat machine and one of those lawn sprinklers that rotate and send water over a large area. It is a sound of summer. Hazy guitar strums and shimmering sounds soon flow over this lawn sprinkler as the song kicks in. It all put me in mind of those summer months hopefully on the horizon. Don't let the song opening put you in mind of beach and beer summer fun, this is no Beach Boys bop. Adam Granduciel of "The War on Drugs" sings of searching, struggling and trying to understand both direction of one's life and the obstacles that send you astray. I have found this song to be haunting and very repeatable.
That opening puts me in mind of two classic songs. It is the idea of music being detected in the aural environment, that what seems to be noise can be observed and twisted into a warm or heartfelt human expression.
Warren Zevon in Desperadoes Under The Eaves sings of listening to the air conditioner hum and then attributes the end of his song, with it's sense of both rising spirits and vanishing into despair, to the sound that the air conditioner makes. It remains one of my favourite songs all-time.
Joni Mitchell's song The Hissing of Summer Lawns touches on this notion, more lyrically than aurally. Her song strikes me as more aware of detachment rather than contemplation.
"Under the Pressure" is now officially the first song of my Summer 14 playlist. I hope you enjoy and stay tuned.
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