Like a Handful of Balloons...

I think I might start marketing my blog as "an ode to the music that moves me". That seems to be nearly the only thing I talk about here.
Maybe it's my age bracket, maybe it's my personality.
Maybe it is the simple fact that music communicates faster to our souls than anything else, opening up a pathway for pure manipulation of our senses, emotions, and moods.
It's making me bipolar.
Here are two songs I have been particularly in love with as of late...





"Shadow Puppets" just happens to have been shot at the orchard where I recently did a photo-shoot (that post is forthcoming). I feel like many of the artistic elements in the film could have so easily been cheesy and overstated, but the song ties it together so perfectly. The final product is breathtaking. I first saw Emily (the pianist) at a concert in downtown Provo as part of the "Rooftop Concert Series". It was a sort of fuzzy atmosphere, and I remember I could hardly understand the words that she was singing, but the feeling her music left me with was a sort of fond, nostalgic way of looking at the future. As if I was having some pleasant memory of something that hadn't happened yet. Recuerdos del porvenir, or something equally romantic. (Ok, I have never read Recuerdos del porvenir, so I should probably not go around willy-nilly asserting it to be romantic.
As for the lyrical content of the song; I have long since had a deep affinity for balloons and the symbolism of balloons, and I, quite frankly, do not want to delve more into that right now; so let it suffice to say that I find "Shadow Puppets" to be an aesthetic treat in every way.

Then there is this:



I was introduced to "The Cave" by my little sister (in fact, she introduced me to "Shadow Puppets" as well) as "The motivational song of the century." That might be an understatement. You know when you simply need a song that will inspire you to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and maybe, I don't know, save a small kitten from a burning tree in the middle of an earthquake, or something equally heroic?
Some people call this song "formulaic" or "obvious". I think that Mumford and Sons decided to write it that way. I think they wrote it as straightforward as they did, not because they were not creative enough to be more abstract, but because they had something to say and they wanted to say it in a big, unmistakable way. Albeit, the video smacks of some political problem that I am too world-culture illiterate to pick up on, but this anthem to redemption, hope, and progression is one of the most exhilarating things I've heard in a time. I may or may not have recently fallen into a habit of blasting it loudly while driving to and from work. Heaven knows, I have been in need.

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. I just broadcast what I am listening to for all of the world. No better way to tell what's on an indie-kid's mind.

Not that I think I truly am an indie kid. Though I did go for a rejuvenating walk with my dear cousin this evening. We hoped it would rain and then when it did, I felt as I always do when it rains.

"But that's a story for another rainy day...."