Some Songs Considered

“Vapour Trail” – Ride
(Words/music: Ride, available on Nowhere, Sire 1990) 

Sometimes, when my mind wanders while listening, I start to visualize songs.  This works best when I’m immersed in the music as a whole, rather than keying in on a particular melody or trying to follow along with the lyrics.  This never really happens with songs with a strong narrative thread because the story engages my brain.  Instead, it’s almost like my mind turns on its screensaver and its sketching out some kind of evolving picture based on the song playing in the background. While this usually happens while I’m spacing out, sometimes I catch myself mid-daydream and the image sticks with me. 

This happened today while listening to “Vapour Trail.”  In this instance, must have thought of the album artwork – a gentle ripple in a deep blue ocean.  Rather than think of waves crashing, I found myself focusing on floating back and forth.  After catching myself in the middle of this image, I traced it back to the fluidity in the song.  The long notes, whether the way the vocals stretched a second longer or the long tones in the strings near the end, feel like a boat floating back and forth without any propulsion of its own.  I guess my brain focused not on the ripple in the album artwork but on the apparent endlessness of the ocean (the “nowhere” suggested by the title, I suppose), and thought of what it would be like being in the ocean with that specific perspective.  The repetition in the arrangement, particularly in the drum beat when the drums join in, only adds to the sense of perpetual floating.  Out of context, this sounds like a personal nightmare, but the warmth and familiarity in “Vapour Trail” made this sound more relaxing and tranquil than despondent.  Needless to say, it was one of the stranger and more powerful associations I’ve had in a while.

More on Ride: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“Machine Gun” – Slowdive
(Words/music: Neil Halstead, available on Souvlaki, SBC / Creation 1993)

Words fill my life, and sometimes I resent this fact.  I love to study language and tear it apart, to analyze symbolism and specific imagery, and to obsess over using one perfect word rather than two vague words.  It was my decision to study literature, to make a career out of sharing my love of language, and to spend almost all of my leisure time reading or writing, but some days I end up verbally exhausted.  My relationship with music works on a similar arc as well.  I first fell in love with music with well thought-out lyrics back in high school when I started to branch out from music on the radio.  I’ve always loved a killer riff, but I started to seek out songs that told an interesting story or created unique images with their lyrics.  I gravitated towards this kind of music especially when I was out of school, using long car rides and spare moments to parse dense lyrics and come up with grand theoretical ideas about albums or cycles or songs.  I still love music that engages this part of my brain, but I’m finding that it’s not an everyday obsession anymore.  Starting from when I went back to school, I found myself integrating music with less of a focus on words and more emphasis on instrumentation.

Around this time, I discovered Slowdive’s Souvlaki album and immediately loved its atmospheric and almost other-worldly feel.   It’s not exactly ambient music, as these songs still retain structure and tempo; however, mood takes precedence over lyrics and song structure.  Take “Machine Gun” as an example – the song has two distinct sections (characterized by the two different sets of vocals) yet retains the same hazy, swirling feel.  Unlike its title, “Machine Gun” moves slowly and gently, filling the air with swirling synthesizers and repetitively strummed guitars.  The lyrics (which I had to look up) focus on water and drowning, and the song shares this aquatic feel, with reverb as the sonic equivalent of ripples in the pond expanding out toward the outer boundaries.  “Machine Gun” doesn’t sound like treacherous waters apt to drowning, but rather a calm lake at night – the ripples in the lake blend in with the steam rising gently into the night’s sky, feeling warm, inviting, and mysterious enough to pique curiosity to delve deeper.

More on Slowdive: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm