Q2 Obsessions

“We Used to Wait” – Arcade Fire
This whole album is a Q2 obsession of mine. The latest single from The Suburbs is certainly a standout track. It opens with staccato piano that provides a backdrop of tension throughout the song. Frontman Win Butler begins by describing the experience of being unprepared for a change and dealing with the aftermath. Instead of wallowing, however, he chooses to overcome it. The high strung piano is slowly drowned out by frantic keyboard and guitar pulsing in and out. Adaptation has occurred not passively, but through pushing oneself to be greater. “I used to wait for it; hear my voice screaming ‘Sing the chorus again!!’” Victory.

“Changing” – The Airborne Toxic Event
The Airborne Toxic Event’s debut album captured my heart and the first single from their latest release has captured my body. I cannot not dance a little when I hear it. Even before a lyric is spoken, the presence of handclaps foreshadow the catchiness that is to come. The on-off pattern of the last bar of each verse is positively viral. When vocalist Mikel Jollett peppers in his signature betrayed, twang-infused moan, I am sold. I imagine this will adorn party playlists for years to come.

“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster the People
I distinctly remember the first time I heard this song. I was driving, almost home. I was amazed that I was hearing something a little electronic, a little ephemeral, with vocals being sung through a megaphone 100 yards away on the po-dunk radio station to which I was relegated. Then I heard the chorus and I really couldn’t believe I was hearing it on the radio “All the little kids with the pumped up kicks: you better run, better run, outrun my gun.” I’m glad it got some airtime because it’s a great specimen of catchy indie rock. It deserves to be heard.

“Helplessness Blues” - Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes new album is just lovely. While their first album speaks mainly nature, on this release Robin Pecknold ventured into writing lyrics about emotions and experiences – even speaking in the first person! Many of the songs contain less harmony and more prominent guitar. The title track seems to encompass all of these characteristics.

It opens with vocals casually layered over light guitar before launching into a driving, rhythmic segment. Emotions build until Pecknold’s voice, now soaring over a folk-frenzied guitar, gives way to a lilt as the song slows to a pace and sound reminiscent of earlier Fleet Foxes.

While “Helplessness Blues” is noteworthy merely for its sound, perhaps most striking is how revealing the lyrics are. Pecknold sings of wanting to be a part of something bigger than himself. He sings of wanting to exhaust himself working with his hands in nature's midst. He sings of not knowing what he will become. These are dangerous thoughts; longing and uncertainty are the ruin of many.

I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
Unique in each way you can see.
And now after some thinking I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
Serving something beyond me.

“That Western Skyline” – Dawes
The opening track to North Hills sets a somber mood. The track begins with a simple drum beat ornamented with the twang of a guitar and is eventually supported by an organ. It progresses quite naturally and ends humbly, leaving the listener without concept of time, akin to realizing one has been staring off in the distance but having no idea how long. It is a song of failure, of things not going as planned. “Oh Lou, no, my dreams did not come true,” mourns the refrain, “No, they only came apart.”

But it is not a song of regret. It is one of closure, of coming to terms with the way things are. The song has an air of wisdom about it. Knowledge has been garnered, but with the understanding that it cannot be shared; it’s the type of wisdom that only comes from experience. Preaching advice would be fruitless, so the performance is unassuming and unflustered.

Perhaps this song struck me so because I first listened to it as I was packing all of my belongings in preparation for a move that would mark the end of a chapter in my life. I used that time to reflect on the opening of that chapter and how different things were then. Regardless of what you are doing while you take in “That Western Skyline,” it is worth a few listens. It grows on you.