Sunday, July 26, 2009

Christmas in July

I have been listening to this song "Skinny Love" all weekend, which is strange because it couldn't feel more like summer here on the west coast and Bon Iver literally means "good winter" (close enough). The songs on this album (called For Emma, Forever Ago) were written while Bon Iver was holed up in a cabin in the woods over a span of an unspecified number of chilly days. My friend Leah would call this track "hauntingly whimsical." Myself, I can practically feel the cozy scarf wrapped around my neck and smell the firewood......but I also think it has a real summery quality to it too. I imagine listening to this song at dusk on a beach after a long hot day, the majority of which was spent barefoot.  
There are certain albums that will forever conjure up memories of seasons for me. Sarah Harmer's I'm A Mountain is pure winter. So is Norah Jones' Come Away With Me. Ron Sexmith is Autumn, and Bruce Springsteen, The Shins, and R.E.M. are summer, summer, summer. Tracy Chapman's title album is the summer when I was seven, if we're going to get specific.
I'd love to hear which albums represent seasons for you, or even certain years of your life. And what do you think about "Skinny Love"? Is it a solstice? Or perhaps an Equinox?

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