A Musical Connection
This post first appeared on jazifresh.com
Don’t you just love music? I mean…it’s really everything and truly one of the few things humans get right (the others are wine and whiskey). I’m currently struggling to get caught up on the last few weeks of summer music releases across all genres but the experience, as always, has been fun, fresh, and spirit-lifting. Not only is new music a great way of breaking up the monotony of life but it can also make for a fun shared experience between two or more people or who are equally moved by the life-giving power of song. I'm not silly enough to think my particular taste in music is noteworthy but I treat music like food and I don't just share it with any ol' body. Grabbing a partner for my “first listen” or any follow-on spins isn’t always necessary and, honestly, most of my listening is a solo venture on which I base my recommendations but I occasionally reserve some choice moments for the people I love chatting about artists and new projects with most. A recent look back over time shows music as the common thread of all of my most cherished moments and relationships.
Sometimes better than music are the music convos with my people. With my sister, it’s all moody and melancholy drama albums about reckless flings and unrequited affection in somber keys over acoustic guitar usually leaving us triggered and in need of wine BUT we still love laugh-crying our way through an unnecessarily dark album together. For music time with my coven, it’s Black Girl power projects that most likely require a solid sound system and your favorite booty shakin’ shorts. We stan an empowerment anthem you can twerk to! J and I just fill in each other’s inboxes with all of the body roll-inducing Afrobeat tracks we can find, trading links to videos and tour schedules ad infinitum (I am GOING to see my faves in concert someday, putting it out into the universe now). A track recommendation from B is also a guaranteed feel-fest because who doesn't like music that really takes you there? Our music swaps periodically require a content warning but it can be anything from trap to jazz to alternative and the conversation that ensues is always so juicy and hilarious and of course full of fucking feels. Britt and Claire are perfect listening mates for the pop albums of our formative years. Some of my first music reviews were notes scribbled into notebooks I passed to them between classes in middle school (lots of fangirling and fighting over band members followed, of course) and I love gushing over the same albums and music videos with them still.
It is strange that it only recently occurred to me that the people I willingly talk about music with are the people that truly know me the best. Not to make my feelings and connection to music more lofty than I most likely already have but there is something very intimate (TO ME) about engaging music and your reaction to music together. Music recommendations from someone I'm not familiar with have a different ring than those coming from people that already know what moves me, literally and figuratively. Likewise, someone sharing something they're currently listening to or enjoying gives me deeper insight to them as well. While solo-listening will always be prime, re-visiting projects I've dissected with friends does layer the work in ways that expands its meaning and impact beyond just my own reaction.
Outside of loving what music does for my mood, spirit, and, sometimes, outlook, I'm intrigued by the way music marks time. My chronology can be marked in songs, not years. Some albums have the power to immediately take me back to a time or place in my life that was pivotal in shaping me. Actually, I rarely remember the details of a specific day but I remember concerts or impromptu dance sessions with almost laser precision, especially if they were with someone I'm fond of. I both appreciate and hate how some songs remind me of rough periods of time, a lover...the ending of a relationship, loss, listlessness, or transitions. Remembering a moment or a feeling really is sometimes as easy as dusting off an old playlist and letting the songs carry you back to that time.
Music has been both my personal glue and the glue of many of my more meaningful and complex relationships. A song can give a common language from which an emotion or longing you can't quite name can be fully expressed. Through music, I'm bonded to people and places in ways that are long-lasting and warm. That's why all of my reminiscences have a background track. All of my best times have happy, fun, carefree music to match. All of my favorite people are constantly surrounded by and surround me with music. And I love them for that.