Sparklehorse found me in the summer of 2002 when I borrowed 'It's a Wonderful Life' from the library and recorded it to MiniDisc (dirty pirate scum that I was). Somehow, Mark Linkous' songs spoke to where I was, but I needed more, and that's how I ended up buying this.
Whilst not exactly gloomy, Good Morning Spider is certainly not the most cheerful album you'll ever hear. Some might find it an odd choice for a summer record, at the time, it made sense. And no, I wasn't depressed or anything, but I was going through a lot (see my earlier entry for Source Tags and Codes) and the music from Sparklehorse resonated. In fact, I'd say this music was probably the reason why I didn't sink into despair - it helped keep me sane in that way that only music can.
GMS is a special album for me for that very reason: the bubble had well and truly burst, my world as I'd always known it was coming to an end and, unbeknownst to me at the time, was slowly being replaced with something more affirming, and this music was there, at the start of my journey. Around the same time as all of this, I'd just started a new job (after a 6 month stretch of being out of work) and the band I played with was entering what was arguably our most creative and prolific period, so beyond my own inner battles, everything was good.
I struggled trying to decide which song to add to this entry. I wanted to go for 'Ghost of His Smile' 'Sunshine' (one of my favourite Sparklehorse tracks) or even 'Painbirds', but in truth, 'Happy Man' is the one that best reflects my state of being then. It gave me goosebumps and became an immediate favourite, in spite of being deliberately "broken" (which I came to understand was the point). I recall the morning after an awesome party. I hadn't slept, and on the way home, I detoured through a nearby park, lay on a park bench and listened to this song on my portable CD player, staring up into the clear blue sky. It felt like a radio broadcast into my very soul as it was at that point in time. I will never forget the impact that song, and this entire album had on me.
And no, I didn't sleep when I got home that morning. I had something on a few hours later so I just stayed up, went back out when I was ready and kept going until later on that evening. A crazy, bittersweet 24 hours, and throughout it all, this unlikely album haunted my ears.
No comments:
Post a Comment