mogwai, NEW PATHS TO HELICON (PT 1), from the record TEN RAPID (THE COLLECTED RECORDINGS 1996-1997)
[there is a song that you’ve heard a thousand times before, you know. soon as it comes on the media player (record player? ha!), you recognize it and have the feeling of waking up and maybe walking through an unfamiliar city in the morning, while he’s still sleeping, covered in down blankets and cotton sheets.
it’s a four minute walk to the corner store and you make it ten minutes longer because the sun is everywhere and the ocean’s so close you maybe can smell the spray as it hits your face. the guitar builds.
the progression of the piece is pitch perfect. making the corner onto your street and seeing home in the distance, just far enough that you enjoy the walk more.
then it breaks apart, the day, and you realize how this particular moment couldn’t have happened at any other place in time, in any other place than here and with no one else other than who’s still dreaming of flowers and rain in the afternoon. the drums are your heart and your brain, connected and in sync the way the morning sun and your skin are.
and open the front door and set what you bought down and you stand at the door way and watch him stir in his sleep, hands to his face and you can maybe hear the way the guitar whispers the same theme from the beginning of the song and it’s only a tiny caress. but when he wakes up, it’s all worth it.
the song ends and you’re left in your bed, awake at four in the morning, and hit replay over and over again. maybe there’s magic somewhere.
this is a perfect song.
and maybe there’s magic somewhere. invite it.]
June 29, 2010
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