Breaking on through

There are albums that, for a long time, I didn't "get." Some of them, I knew that I liked them, but I wasn't connecting with them in any meaningful way. Some of them, I couldn't even listen to them without hitting an invisible wall and turning them off in frustration.

For some reason, my level of connection with an album is sometimes connected with mood. I won't "get" an album until I listen to it whilst in a certain mood. Then, for some reason, it reaches into my soul and we connect. Sounds corny, right? It's actually quite soothing. The Dude and I have talked a lot about how I listen more closely to lyrics than he does and how I have to buy into something whole-heartedly before it makes an impact. So, it stands to reason that it might take the precise alignment of the stars for me to fully appreciate some things.

Erin McKeown's We Will Become Like Birds has been crazy problematic for me for a while. I latched on to McKeown when her album Sing You Sinners got rave reviews. I love her voice, but I didn't connect much with that album so I decided to go with an older album. Her voice is wispy and ephemeral which is funny because those two adjectives probably couldn't be used to describe McKeown herself. Based on all of the pictures of her I've seen, I would expect her voice to be deeper and smokier.

Anyway, I love McKeown's voice, but I was having such a hard time connecting with We Will Become Like Birds. It seemed too wildly esoteric for me. I couldn't crack her code. So, I'm sitting her in my PJs doing some work on my computer. It's a Saturday morning and I was up late last night hanging out with some people I've met from Church. I'm not usually slow to start my day, but today I am. I was listening to Modest Mouse's We were dead before the ship even sank and the next album in my iTunes playlist is McKeown's We will become like birds. Suddenly it makes sense. It's light playfulness makes sense to me suddenly on my lazy Saturday morning. It never clicked with me at work because I wasn't in the right headspace, I guess.

It's funny how those things work.