You Should Listen

Keane....incredible band. British...but slowly making their way into mainstream here. I'm sure that, before too long, they'll be overplayed and popular just like so many other bands are. Hopefully they won't lose their unique flavor in the process. Every song of theirs takes you somewhere; sparks a small flame of some sort...... Just as with sounds and smells, I love it that music has a way of reminding us.

Think about your favorite movies. (If all of your favorite movies are crappy, then you can skip the rest of this entry entirely because you won't be able to follow.) I can't seperate movies from their soundtracks. If the music doesn't flow with the emotion of a scene, it grates my tolerance level into tiny shreads. On the other hand, we all know that music can artfully direct what mood is created on film. The very best of these, when you hear them later on, put you back into a scene; into that mood. It's almost as if your catalogs of recollection can't quite seperate your own personal reality from what was obsorbed on a t.v. or movie screen.

A few come to mind...(Some impromptu movie trivia, if you will.)

Exultate Justi being sung by a boy's choir as a young man is forced to grow and mature during the devastation of WWII. He steps back into the innocence he has lost when he is reunited with his parents after years of seperation. triumphic.

The lyric-less poetry of The Polyphonic Spree exemplifies the joy; and then the depression and desperation, that love has the power to drive you into. poetic.

(This one's for the girls.) The Beach Boys' What Would I Be Without You... more about the many forms of love ...I'll spare everyone from another indulgence in that arena.

And who could forget the balladic guitar stylings of David Bowie setting the tone of a demented "King of the Underworld"s obsession with babies and young girls. (Yes, I'm referring to an actual movie. And, NO, I'm not really suggesting that it offers something of meaningful quality.)


So....back to my original topic...Keane. Their music does just what I've been rambling about: Recreates, or perhaps, creates for the first time, detailed memories. Sometimes they're from our own experiences and sometimes they're bits and pieces of pictures and ideas we've vacuumed up along the way.

Now that you're all throughly confused; I'll get back to work.