"The winters are so crazy and long there that when spring comes there's
almost this violent energy. The song tries to capture that pent up
feeling and excitement about wanting to go outside again." Win Butler was describing winter in Montreal when he commented on the inspiration behind Arcade Fire's "Month of May," but he could easily have been describing the Twin Cities, or Anchorage for that matter. Winter was abnormally long in both those places this year, so Lizzie's flair for picking shockingly appropriate openers continued this month.
After this inspired beginning, the mix jumps to a great newer release. Lizzie and I have been discovering Frightened Rabbit together, one song at a time. (If you're lucky, we might do our rendition of "Acts of Man" for you, in which Lizzie passionately sings the words and I vocally impersonate the guitar patterns.) "Dead Now" may well be the song that pushed Frightened Rabbit from "cool band I'm enjoying right now" to "makers of an album I will continue to connect with for some time." Astronautalis is another artist I strongly associate with Lizzie. His album was one of our myriad library finds, which she selected based solely on the cool cover art. When my mom heard "Secrets on Our Lips" and I described Astronautalis to her as a Minneapolis-based rapper, she said he didn't sound very rap-y to her. Which, fair enough, this song starts off kinda like a ballad, with 'Naut singing tunefully over synth chords. But he does start rapping later, as I assured my mom.
Next up is "Wrapped in Piano Strings" by Radical Face. The only thing I know about this artist is he makes songs you can listen to repeatedly, which can serve as soothing background music while also being able to stand up to focused listening. This track builds upon the contemplative tone struck up by "Secrets on Our Lips," a tone which is continued by Civil Twilight's "Highway of Fallen Kings." This song really intrigues me, with its drum machine intro that later gives way to ringing guitar arpeggios and a haunting chorus. It's an eerie song that doesn't take the course you might expect it to.
If this blog entry is your introduction to Frightened Rabbit, then you might think they seem mortality-obsessed, given the titles of the two songs on this mix; "Dead Now" has a complementary cousin in "Late March, Death March." This track kicks off with intensity, where the former song takes its time to build up. I love the clattering percussion, whistling intro, and enthusiastic backing vocals. This is surely the most energetic and happy-sounding song with the words "death march" in its title that you're likely to hear.
I was excited to see "Trying to Be Cool" from Phoenix on my mix, because I haven't listened to much of their new album "Bankrupt!" yet. This song kind of sounds like its title, but not in a bad way; it's very smooth and polished. It has the catchy, easy charm of past Phoenix releases, but strikes me as more non-linear than much of "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix." The following track is Tearjerker's "You Can," and the ambiguity of this song makes for a nice contrast with the more straight-forward charms of Phoenix. "You Can" is five minutes of variation upon the same guitar riff accompanied by indecipherable lyrics, yet it never seems repetitive. For some reason, it makes me envision a joyous uphill run.
The Neighbourhood definitely have a very noir vibe. Even their songs with more positive lyrics like "Sweater Weather" sounds menacing, but "W.D.Y.W.F.M.?" is not one of those songs with positive lyrics. Its title is an acronym for "what do you want from me," a phrase that is sung in the chorus (and, incidentally, which made me think of Dylan's "What Was It You Wanted," another awesomely dark song). "Caring is Creepy" by The Shins is not at all creepy, especially in contrast to The Neighborhood. It's a very hummable and spare tune. The Shins feel like summer music to me.
Ra Ra Riot's "Keep It Quiet" slows things down for a moment. This minimalist track is basically just vocals accompanied by some restrained percussion and organ-like keyboards. It made for a nice rest before the mix's last hurrah, which was delivered by two bands that insist on having punctuation be part of their name: fun. and Los Campesinos! I hadn't heard any songs by fun. other than the inescapable hits, so it was interesting to discover "One Foot." The Los Campesinos! song "By Your Hand" has awesome horns and gloomy lyrics ("It's a good night for a fistfight / Because the dew will temper your fall"), plus a ridiculously catchy chorus delivered as a glorious group chant.
The bombast of these selections winds down into a perfect close with "Welcome Home," another lovely tune from Radical Face. It's full of clapping and acoustic guitar, and you know what, it did feel pretty welcoming to listen to this song on my first full day back home in Anchorage. Overall, this mix has an arc that beautifully illustrates my May: the madcap beginning reflects the glee of finishing up finals, but is balanced by more somber songs that correspond to the completion of a significant year and the preparation to leave a new life and new friends, eventually giving way to a closing song that magically conjures the bliss of coming back home again.
Instant favorites: "Dead Now," "Highway of Fallen Kings," "Late March, Death March," "By Your Hand," "Welcome Home."
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