One of the advantages - of which there are many - to having musically talented friends is that I get to be constantly surrounded by music. As someone who doesn't read music or play an instrument, I am in awe of those with the ability to take a bunch of squiggles on a page and turn them into (reasonably) pleasant sound. This also means that I get to have a bunch of musically literate people telling me what to listen to. Even though I don't understand how music works, it has helped me (as I'm sure it has helped most people) through some of the toughest times in my life. As 2015 comes to an end, I find myself thinking about some of the songs that have been shown to me this year, each of which has been somehow important to me. Here are just a few of them.
(Disclaimer: not all of these songs came out in 2015 - indeed, most of them did not. I'm not trying to create a retrospective of all the music that's come out this year - rather, I want to look back at the music that's been most meaningful to me, and pass it on to others. Read on.)
Sufjan Stevens - "Should Have Known Better"
Sufjan has been my go-to sad music since maybe sophomore year of high school, but I was reintroduced to "Carrie and Lowell" this summer on a long car ride and I fell in love. The backstory behind the album is equally moving: Stevens wrote it reflecting on the time he spent with his step-parents in southern Oregon, giving the two ghostly figures on the album cover a whole new meaning.
Beirut - "Santa Fe"
I like to listen to this song when I'm on the bus, because it makes me feel like I'm setting off on an important journey, possibly at some time during the sixteenth century. A lot of Beirut's songs have an anachronistic quality to them, as if you've accidentally stepped into the middle of a Victorian era soiree. But in the best possible way.
Elliott Smith - "Angeles"
Skeptics may ask, you lived in Portland for a whole year, and you didn't know about Elliott Smith? And my only reply is to shake my head, lower my eyes solemnly, and say in a slightly petulant tone, well, I do now. And it's true. I do. And you should too.
Frank Turner - "Mittens"
I simultaneously want to be friends with Frank Turner and to be Frank Turner. I don't know exactly what that means, psychologically speaking. But in musical terms, it's impossible to deny that he's just incredible. And his tattoos are equally so.
River City Extension - "Our New Intelligence"
This song, and the friend who showed it to me, helped me remember the importance of dancing around a room and singing at the top of your lungs, even (especially) when you're sad. Empowering and fun.
Jeremy Messersmith - "Ghost"
I listened to this song on my flight back to college last January after hearing parts of it from a friend, and then listened to it on repeat for the next week or so. It's still one of my go-to travel songs, and the rest of the album is great, too.
William Shatner - "Ideal Woman"
Technically, I was shown this in late winter 2014. But it's too good not to include. Also see his dramatic reading of Hamlet's "to be or not to be" monologue- fantastic.
