Music Write-Ups
How do you know Chris Earley?
How many MP3s do you have on your hard drive? 10-50
I find that I’ve always been a “worst case scenario” kind of person. Not in a practical way (where I’m always prepared for every possible situation that might arise, like the world’s greatest Boy Scout) but in more of a psychologically crippling way.
This is much more than healthy pessimism, my mind creates ridiculous scenarios that have no basis on any rational thought. It isn’t that the glass is just half empty, the water is also probably full of dangerous bacteria and trace amounts of arsenic.
This completely irrational aspect of my thought process is thankfully countered by a much larger rational side of my brain. When that voice in my head says “This elevator looks poorly maintained and likely to plummet you six stories to your death” the rational side points out the up-to-date maintenance certificate, the emergency brakes, the multiple cable systems, the redundant backups, the emergency call boxes, and the sheer statistical unlikelihood of an elevator failing in the way I imagine.
For years, this irrational part of my mind has been relegated to a small, dark corner of my psyche - forced to hang out with who-knows-what kind of repressed memories and childhood traumas involving getting lost in the supermarket or calling the teacher “Mommy”. Yet, in recent years current events have started to make my irrational fears seem reasonable and well thought out. Global warming, fear of terrorist attack, a dreary economic forecast, and the like have turned that one time whisper in the back of my head into a scream in my frontal lobe. I may lay in bed at night, but sleep won’t come as long as I know a new pandemic is getting started in Southeast Asia and those killer bees are just waiting for an opening.
Sure, some scientists and philosophers believe fear is integral to the human experience, but I like to think it isn’t and that we could all accomplish a lot more in this life without it.
-Brad Winters
This song discusses an issue I think is rarely mentioned in pop music. Sex.
As someone brought up in a relatively strict and conservative Christian household, sex and sexuality was always something better left undiscussed. Sex is obviously important in Christianity and it’s all over the Bible: naked people in gardens, virgins, Sodom & Gomorrah, rapes, and a ton of prostitutes. There are literally massive amounts of sex going on in-between the lines of the entire book. But then we’re also taught that sex is sinful, wrong, and a one-way ticket straight to Hell when performed outside the confines of marriage. Growing up in the 80’s, this lesson of “intercourse = bad” found a fitting partner in the emergence of AIDS epidemic. Now there was something new to make sex all the more terrifying and evil.
Yet, we’re told by God to go forth a multiply. We have evolutionary and primal instincts to procreate. Our bodies are wired for sex. Our minds are wired for guilt. There exists this intriguing (at least to me) dichotomy of sexuality and spirituality. Are they mutually exclusive?
Pedro the Lion tackles this issue in many songs, but nowhere nearly as direct as they do in Rapture. It’s obliviously a song about sex, but it also contains the jumble of thoughts and emotions of someone coming to terms with their sexuality vs. their spirituality.
David Bazan is one of my favorite lyricists, always able to create a complex story within his songs. Is the man in the song cheating on his wife or is he wishing this woman was his wife, thereby making the act no longer a sin? He seems guilty, but not guilty enough to stop. Is he crying out to Jesus for salvation or is he just ejaculating? It’s all up to the listener and that’s what I like.
-Brad Winters
Sparklehorse has long been one of my favorite groups. My infatuation began in late 1998 when I first listened to their incredible sophomore album Good Morning Spider.Founder Mark Linkous’ dark southern gothic lyrics and somber melodies caught me completely off guard. His voice would change from delicate lullabys to screeching howls. The music would take drastic turns and twists; some songs meandered along while others would transform from a tender beginning to a dissident and violent end. I would listen to the album over and over again as the lyrics painted a surreal picture in my mind of decaying farmhouses haunted by the restless spirits of jackrabbits and crows; lost loves and wandering ghosts.
I ventured onto the internet to learn more about Linkous. I discovered that much like Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor, Sparklehorse is really just Linkous with a rotating cast of musicians and guest singers. I also learned about Linkous’ disastrous trip to London in 1996. While on tour in support of his first album, Linkous overdosed on alcohol, Valium and antidepressants. He pasted out with his legs pinned beneath him for almost fourteen hours. As a result, potassium built up in his system causing his heart to stop when he was finally found and lifted up. Linkous would spend months recovering in a London hospital, most of that time in a wheel-chair. This experience played greatly into the production of Good Morning Spider with one song dedicated to the nurses who attended him.
Why the incredibly long backstory?
Years later I stumbled across this single entitled “London”. I was so sure that the song must have been written in response to Linkous’ near death experience. The lyrics seemed so “Sparklehorse”ish, yet there was something distinctly different about this song. Imagine my surprise when the lyrics were actually a well known William Blake poem AND the song was released a year before the afore mentioned trip to London. There went my theory, but I didn’t really care. I had discovered another excellent song by an artist that (for reasons that escape me) fails to find mainstream success.
Now, hopefully, some of you can discover him too.
-Brad Winters